The Masked Wizard Book 1 (Rated M)
by BladeofHope1991
Summary: Travis Edge has stumbled across a Rider Belt that gives him the power to fight against the Phantoms. Now he must find all of the rings that go with the belt in order to stop a massive destruction of the world and save humanity.
1. Magical Beginnings

I woke up to hear my annoying alarm blare. I was lying face down in my bed and reached out to turn the loud machine off. I kept hitting the side of my desk missing the alarm clock by mere inches, "I know your nearby you stupid thing." I said. I finally grabbed the clock and turned it off. I got up out of my small one person bed and walked over to my dresser. I opened the top drawer grabbing a pair of boxers and socks then opened the second drawer grabbing a red marble design shirt, then grabbing a pair of blue jeans from the bottom drawer. I walked out of the room and right into the living room and opened the blinds to see the bright sun shine into the room. "Ugh it's bright. My eyes aren't ready for that much sun first thing in the morning."

I turned around and walked over to the right corner of the living room where there was a doorway leading into the kitchen. On the left side of the kitchen is a doorway to my parent's bedroom which has not been entered in for the past three years. To the right of my parent's room is a fridge and then a hallway leading to the bathroom with one closet on the left side of the hall and another one on the right. The one on the right is where we kept food and toiletries. I walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. My phone began going off and I pulled it out to see my boss was calling me from the local newspaper called The Blade. "Hi this is Travis." I said into the phone.

My boss DJ was on the other end, "Well good morning sir, how are you doing today?" DJ was always cheerful whenever we talked.

"I'm just now waking up. Had a rough night trying to sleep yesterday." I said as I yawned.

"Well that's not good. If you'd like we can talk about later but I need to ask you something first. We had a worker call in sick and I was wondering if you would want to cover for her? You would have to just cover the number streets that are second to ninth. Would you be willing to do this?"

I thought about it and agreed to take the shift. I told my boss I would be over when I was done taking a shower to pick up the papers and do my rounds. We hung up the phone and I took a quick five minute shower. I dried up after the shower and made some toast and put butter on it as I threw on my black tennis shoes and my biking gloves. I grabbed the key off the wall next to the front porch door and unlocked my bike that was chained up next to the house. The paper company was about a mile out from where I was but I would get there in about ten to fifteen minutes since I was a fast biker.

I had a job as a newspaper boy at The Blade for two years now. They won't have me work winter but summer and fall were always my work seasons and with the money my parent's left me I've been very good and successful at living on my own. I just get a job so I have something to do other than sit in my home playing videos games and watching cartoons.

It took about ten minutes this time to get out there and when I did there was a basket at the front desk with my name on it along with a list of what places needed newspapers. I placed the basket on the front of my bike and began my rounds. There was an envelope in the papers addressed to me. I opened it to see a ten dollar gift card to Grounds for Thought which was the coffee and bookstore in town. Oh my town is called Bowling Green and it's in the state of Ohio. DJ always looked out for me ever since I started working for him. He would care about my health and wellbeing after knowing about my parents death. He even offered me to live with him but I declined. The note with the gift card was a thank you for all the hard work I gave to the company.

I put one foot on the bike pedals, "Alright it's show time." I said as I pushed off the ground with my other foot and began biking to the number streets. Getting to the streets took about five minutes for me and I started throwing the paper to the different houses and apartments and checking off the list of where I had been. This process always took long because I had to bike a couple feet and stop. On a normal day it takes me three hours to finish my errands but that's because I usually have more than seven blocks of streets on days that I work. Today I got done at one and a half hours. I wrote down what time I started and when I finished and biked back to The Blade to drop off my check list. It was payday so I got paid as well and stopped over at a bank called Huntington to cash my check.

Now this part was weird, when you go into my bank you will see in the corner a display case with all of these nice knick knacks that were found in the vault when the bank was being opened. One thing in this case is a ring with what looked like two dragons. One was grey and the other was a red orangish color that was smaller than the grey one. This ring had a lot of dirt and stuff on it and was encased in stone. This ring is also the main attraction to all of the relics in this case. I walked up to my bank teller and cashed my check and deposited some of the money into the savings which I was now at five hundred dollars. I began to walk out of the bank when I heard a growl coming from somewhere and when I looked around at the sound to see where it was coming from; it came from the glass case with all of the relics. Feeling a bit creeped out I walked out in a hurry of the building and got on my mountain bike and went home.

I finally got home as I checked the mailbox for anything I might've received while I was out, "Empty again." I said as I closed the lid. I walked in to see a slip of paper hanging in my door. I looked at it and it was a pamphlet saying something about an exciting underground cavern on the outskirts of the city. I just had to call the number to let them know when I would be able to go. "This is kind of interesting. If there's really an underground cave on the outskirts of the city I might be able to find something worth valuable and could sell it." I unlocked the front door of my house and walked over to the phone, picked it up, and dialed the number. "Hi this is Travis Edge, I got a pamphlet at my door about a cave exploration. I was wondering if I could still book a reservation?"

The man on the other phone began speaking in a deep tone, "Yes Mr. Edge we have a room for one more person. We could only have about ten people on the exploration. We will be going out tonight and are leaving at six. Meet us at the mall on the other end of town, there is a bus that will be waiting for people and will be leaving at exactly six. Also the only rule is to show common courtesy to your peers and to stick with the members of your group. We don't want anyone to get lost on this trip. Bring your own equipment and food. Also stay close with your guide as much as you can." I accepted all of these rules and said I would head out in a bit. I hung up the phone and went to get ready for my awesome night I was going to have.

My showers don't take long as usual and when I hopped out of the bathroom all dressed I started searching for my book bag. I started filling the bag up with some chips, a couple bottles of water, and a red flashlight I had. After putting this stuff in my bag I began making a small dinner to hold me over. I made a turkey breast sandwich with ketchup and Gouda cheese slice, and placed it in between two wheat bread slices. After this I looked up at the clock to see that I had thirty minutes to get out to the mall. Knowing I would get there early I decided to head out immediately probably because I was excited to go do something different in the city.

It was ten minutes before I got there and I was looking around at all the different people who had a copy of the pamphlets. Different ethnic backgrounds were all gathered around talking and socializing with each other and then I saw a small bus pull into the parking lot. I was walking to get in line when a woman bumped into me. She was shorter than me and had dark skin. She wasn't that much appealing to look at and her hair was kind of all over the place. She had blonde hair and looked like she just dyed it the night before. She was really thin and looked like she was a bit high on something. "I'm sorry I didn't meant to bump into you." She said. I told her not to worry about it and looked back at the group of people handing out there pamphlets to the driver. There was another girl in front of me who dropped her pamphlet and was looking around for it in a hurry fashion. She was also shorter than me, white skin, red black hair, and like the girl behind me, really thin. I saw the pamphlet next to my foot and bent over to pick it up. I tapped her on her shoulder and the girl turned around and looked at me. She was a bit cute and had black eye shadow around her eyes. She also had freckles on her face, "You dropped this." I said.

She was really excited and gave me a hug as she took the paper out of my hand. I looked at her surprised that she just hugged me a random stranger. She then turned around and walked up to the driver as she handed her pamphlet.

I got a look at her book bag and it said Amber Wild. Well I guess I know her name now. I walked up and gave my pamphlet to the driver and headed onto the bus. I sat up front and saw the black girl walk past me as she stared at me in some seductive manner. Then the final passenger hopped onto the bus and went to the back of the bus. The bus driver got on and gave an announcement on the rules for the bus. Once the driver was done with the announcement he sat down in his seat and began to start the bus. I sat up against the window minding my own business as I listened to everyone around me talk about how excited they were to go out on this excavation and I just did not care.

I heard someone plop down next to me and this guy was a tall white male with brown hair and had a figure like he works out a lot, "Hey brownie!" The man said to me.

I looked at him, "Hey." I didn't like his choice of words and wished to not engage with him. He didn't say anything to me but kept talking to this girl behind me about how rough and tough he was. Kept bragging and going on about how he can fight hand-to-hand with anyone in the military.

I got his name because the girl he was talking to knew him, "Tyler Cox the man who likes to run his mouth." She said while laughing. I got the chicks name who threw the corner of my eye was the black girl who walked past me.

"Let's not forget your introduction miss Elizabeth Woodruff the whore who has slept with over a hundred people." Tyler's response was more rude than the joke this girl Elizabeth was giving. I took out my mp3 player and just played music so I could drown out the noise around me. I listened to a lot of pop, rock, bit of country, and a small bit of J-Rock. I mostly listened whenever I pull out my mp3 music that has a lot of beat to it. I hate rap, I hate the lyrics people used and a lot of times the singer sounds like they need to think about what they are singing. Rap just disgusted me. Rarely will I find a rap song that is actually good.

I stared out the window as we had already passed the downtown of Bowling Green and it didn't take long until we got out to the country side of the city. Once we did there was a small forest area. The bus went out and parked to the side and I took my headphones out. The driver started having everyone get off the bus and then he told us we were to walk in an orderly fashion into the forest. "I hear the cave is located underground. In order to get there you have to find the hole in the ground. I'm hoping they have a way in and out of the cave.

I brought my bag to collect anything that looks cool." The red hair chick Amber said as she walked in front of me.

"I've got no idea why I'm here anymore. I kind of just want to go home." I said under my breath. Everyone had already been about five feet ahead of me and I just kept walking, "I've come this far I might as well just stay with everyone." I said to myself. I looked up ahead as we got to the entrance of the forest and looked around to see that other than myself, there were only 8 people in front of me, "Where's the other member? There should be ten of us altogether?" I looked around for the other person and felt someone bump at my back and when I turned around I saw a mexican girl who was almost my height, black hair, looked cute, brown eyes, and had a sketch pad out.

"Oh I'm sorry I was amazed at the area so I was drawing it in my book." She said with her head down.

She had her book closed and stuck her hand out, "My name is Karina Medrano. I'm new to Bowling Green it's nice to meet you."

I raised my hand out and shook hers, "I'm Travis Edge. I've been living here in Bowling Green for a while." The guide cut our introduction short and told us to find a partner and to stick close to them. I looked around to see everyone having found a partner. Elizabeth was not only holding Tyler's hand but squeezing his butt, "That's not really socially appropriate." I thought to myself. The chick named Amber was with some other dude and the only people who weren't with a partner was me and this girl Karina. "I guess you and I are partners for this excavation." I said to her.

She was kind of quiet and we walked into the forest. When I walked my first step into the forest I felt something go through my body causing some pain throughout my body, "Agh! What the hell was that?" It felt like I walked through something and I wasn't the only person who felt it. Everyone here did too, including Karina. "What was that?" She asked. I didn't know but the guide wasn't affected at all. "Come on and hurry up guys we are close to the entrance to the cave. It's right up ahead!" I was wondering why the guide didn't notice what had just happened and when I looked around the forest I noticed that the liveliness of the animals was gone. "Something feels off about this place. Why are the animals not lively right now? They were just all chipper some time ago." We had walked about five minutes after entering the forest and the guide was far ahead of us picking something up off the ground. It looked like a tarp covered with grass and sticks. He unraveled something next to where the tarp was once placed and it was a rope ladder. He tied the ropes around some stones and threw the ladder down a hole, "Down here guys is the cave. Please watch your step as you go down and everyone go down one at a time." The guide went down first and everyone formed a line as they went down one by one. I had Karina go down first and then I saw something that caught my eye. What I saw was a giant monster who stood almost six foot tall with white and blue armor that looked like its body. It held a spear weapon with an axe head on the other end and had two giant horns on its head.

The white looked more like armor than anything else. He had crimson red eyes that glowed but then I was distracted by the guide, "Hey son you coming down?" He asked. I looked back at the monster and he was gone.

"Yea I'm coming down." I said to the guide. I didn't like this forest but I thought it would be best if I stuck with the group, "Something about this whole thing is raising red flags. But I think it would be best if I stuck with my group." I got down in the cave and was amazed at all of the torches lit exposing minerals and some gems that were stuck in the wall. It was beautiful and everyone was amazed at the sight. Karina and I stayed behind the group looking at the rare minerals and shiny stones. Our group was going deeper into the cave and Karina saw a hole in the wall as she grabbed me stopping me from advancing with our group.

"Hey there's something over here Travis." She said pointing at something in the wall.

I grabbed one of the torches on the wall and looked to see where our group was who was deeper in the cave. I moved the torch over to the small hole in the wall that Karina was pointing at and I started kicking the wall. Every kick was causing cracks and making it fall apart. Karina helped by removing the cracks on the wall and having them fall onto the ground. When they did I saw a corridor leading deeper into the cave. We walked down the corridor and at the end of it I saw something that looked like a giant red stone that was lighting up and then dimming. The stone had words written on it and it said something, "Here lies the mighty dragon and a fraction of his mighty power." I said aloud. I looked at Karina who was confused and excited at what we had found. Our time was cut short as I heard an explosion in the cave followed by people screaming in pain. The voices got louder as they began echoing throughout the cave and a purple light began showing at the entrance of the corridor. I had put my hands over my ears and when the screaming stopped I walked back to the entrance of the corridor, "Stay behind me Karina."

I could tell she was scared for she hid behind me and we slowly walked over to the entrance towards the purple light. I raised my torch a bit higher and when we got to the entrance the purple light hit me and I pushed Karina back as she fell onto the ground. The purple light began to absorb into my body and I looked at my hands as purple cracks began to form all over my body.

I was on the ground agonizing in pain as my childhood began flashing around my mind. A voice that sounded like mine was talking to me. "Die Travis, you failure. Give into your despair, fall into the deepest darkest part of your heart. Your all alone Travis, nobody will miss you. Why are you resisting? You know it's true, you can't protect anyone, you can't love anyone, and you can't trust anyone. How much longer will you keep this staying alive up? Just die already. Remember Mark? How he sold you out to that gang? Remember how great it was to bang him up on the pavement? All that power you had from your anger? I can give you that power to hurt those who have hurt you. All you need to do is stop struggling and give into your despair. No one will ever love you, no one will ever want to be your friend, and no one will protect you when you actually need someone. There is no need to keep yourself tied down in this wretched world. Just give into your despair already!" The voice replayed this over and over again.

I knew the voice was right, but for some reason I just wasn't ready to give up on this world, "Help! Help me! Someone help me!" I said in my head screaming wishing that someone will make it all stop.

I looked up to see a dark black version of me standing in front of me as it placed its hands on my throat and I could feel my life being sucked out of me as the figure kept smiling and laughing at me all the while. Then through all that was going on in front of me I heard Karina scream, "What are you?! Help! Someone help! Travis!"

I heard my name and right before I passed out of being choked out I grabbed the hands of my attacker, "Get the hell off of me!" I said as I raised my legs back and kicked it off of me. The thing went soaring into the ceiling and then vanished upon impact. Once this happened I found myself back on the ground and the purple cracks were quickly vanishing. I got back up off the ground and saw a grey monster holding a spear backing Karina into the corner behind the giant red glowing stone. I didn't have time to think or act as my legs began moving on their own and I ran at the monster grabbing it from behind. The monster hit my head with the back of his and it caused me to let go. Then the monster turned around and I saw these bright yellow scars all over its body.

The monster took the blunt part of its spear and hit me in the chest causing me to stumble backwards and then it raised its foot and kicked me in the gut as I fell up against the red stone. Some blood went down my mouth and right when the monster raised its spear with the blade pointed at my head I raised one hand over my face while the other was on the red stone which then grew extremely bright. When I lowered my hand I saw nothing but darkness and then I heard something breathing behind me. I turned around to see a giant mechanical dragon with glowing red eyes looking at me. Surprised, I fell to the ground putting my hands up. The dragon began laughing, "Don't worry I'm not going to harm you. You have overcome your despair and have placed your hands on my stone seal. My name is Dragon." I was surprised to see this giant thing talking to me let alone not going to harm me.

The dragon began flying around me, "You don't have a lot of time before you die so I'm going to cut to the chase this will sting a bit." The dragon flew around me some more and then began to glow as it flew directly at me and then vanished upon impact. I was back on the ground in pain but then I felt something was in my hand. I looked at my hand to see two grey rings. One had a black hand with a gold outline and the other was a red stone and some kind of eye mask above at the top of it. I awoke to see the monster in front of me blind and I took this opportunity to grab Karina and run. I looked back when we got to the entrance and noticed the giant stone was gone.

"I don't think that was a dream." I said to myself.

We got back to the ladder and I had Karina go up first. I heard snarling behind me and I saw two of that same scarred monster coming up from behind with their spears raised. Karina was almost halfway there and I was still holding the rings in my hands. I put them in my pocket and once again acted without thinking. The monster in front thrust his spear at me and I roundhouse kicked it out of his hand and then grabbed the spear and stabbed the monster in its shoulder. Sparks flew off its armor from the attack and then I watched as a small explosion went off. I put my hands up to my face and quickly jumped onto the ladder.

I hurried up with climbing the ladder as the other monster began climbing. I grabbed Karina's hand and began running down the forest way looking for the path we were on. But the entire forest had changed; it looked a lot different than when we arrived. I was starting to panic and when I looked back I saw eight of those grey monsters with spears pointed and marching towards us. "I'm scared Travis. What's going to happen to us?" Karina was staying behind me frightened.

I put my hands up with my fist clenched ready to fight, and then I heard his voice, "Ha you're going to fight those ghouls with just your bare hands? You're an interesting mage aren't you? I give you my power and you're not even going to use it?"

In my mind I saw Dragon standing before me looking at me, "I don't know how or what your power is. If you have powers then tell me how to use them!" I said at the beast.

He raised one of his claws and had it pointed at my waist, "Scan your black hand ring after placing it on your right middle finger on that to start the process, then take the red ring and push the face guard down, say "Transform." Then place it over the hand on your belt with the back of the hand aimed at your left side. The left hand side of your belt is for transforming, and the right side of the belt is for your spells. Once you've transformed you will then know everything you have to do. Good luck Masked Rider Wizard." With that Dragon went back inside my body and I took out my rings. The black hand ring went on my right hand's finger and I placed it aligned with a black hand belt that was now around my waist.

 **"** **Driver On, Please."**

My belt said as the black hand extended out and a silver belt buckle with the black hand was now able to be seen. There were levers on the side of the black hand and I pushed the one on the right to turn the black hand from the right position to the left position.

 **"** **Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform! Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform!"**

The belt was saying with music playing. I took out the red ring and put it on my left hand's middle finger and raised it in front of my face, "Transform." I said. I placed my hand over the singing belt and a deep voice sounded in the belt.

 **"** **Flame, Please."**

I then took my hand and moved it to the left side of me as a giant red circle with a bunch of weird drawings all over it began floating through me and what was once my body was now a suit with a black coat, black with some red stones shoes, my chest area was replaced with a red stone chest plate and my face was now the face of the ring that was still on my left finger. I had a silver chain with holes on my left side that had four rings in them. My wrists had red stone arm bracelets and once I was done with my transformation the monsters known as Ghouls stopped in their tracks. They were shocked to see me.

"Now, it's show time." I raised my hand out and a blade appeared with another hand above the hilt. I looked at Karina, "I'll be right back Karina, wait for me here." Karina didn't know what to say as she looked at me in awe.

"Yea, sure thing." She said.

I ran back towards the cave entrance as the ghouls began running towards me. The first ghoul went for a high cut and I put my blade up to stop it. I then came in close to him and punched him in the chest and then brought my blade down to slice him across the chest. He started glowing and thinking he was going to explode I kicked him back to his group. He exploded once getting knocked back onto the ground and two of his buddies came at me, I pressed a button on the side of my blade folding the tip backwards and pressed another button above the hilt to turn my sword into a gun. I pressed the trigger and fired bullets that went towards the two ghouls knocking them back on their feet. I fired bullets at the other ghouls knocking them back and I grabbed the thumb of the black hand on my gun and pushed it forward.

This caused the clenched hand to open revealing a circle in the palm of it to glow.

 **"** **C'mon and shoot and shake hands! C'mon and shoot and shake hands!"**

The gun was saying in an exciting tone. I placed my transformation ring over the hand.

 **"** **Flame, Shooting Strike! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

I pulled the trigger and flame began forming around the end of the gun and kept turning into a bigger ball of fire. I let go of the trigger and the giant ball of fire made its way to the group of ghouls and a big explosion happened immediately. I brought my gun back to sword mode rested it on my shoulder, "Whew." I said as I turned around facing Karina.

She rushed over to me, "I think we're safe for now. I don't know how I know but I can't sense any living thing other than us for miles." I wanted to take her word for it but I looked around us and noticed that even the hole in the ground was gone. When I looked more around I saw what looked like police cars near the road where the bus was parked. I pulled back the face guard on my transformation ring and reverted back to my original form. I looked down to see the silver belt buckle go back to its black hand only form wrapped around my waist. "We need to head back to town." I said to Karina as I took her hand and we ran towards the cops. "I don't know what that was all about but I have a feeling this is far from over." I said in my head.

We got closer to the cops who immediately ran up to us. Apparently they were sent out because the bus driver who took us out was wanted for suspicions over twenty missing people. The bus licensed plate was on every cops watch list and then I began to worry about the other eight people who were with us. The cops had us get into the squad car and when I looked back at the forest I noticed the horned monster was watching us from afar behind a tree. As we drove away three more monsters that were hard to see appeared out from the tree and I had a feeling this wasn't the last time I was going to have to transform.

The cops took us into town for questioning where we mentioned everything about a cave exploration that ten people were handpicked to attend but we kept out the whole monsters and ghouls, and what I just did to save our lives. I didn't even tell them about the monsters I had seen upon entering and leaving the forest. We were at the police station for two hours until they let us go. When we got outside the police station Karina didn't want to leave my side, "Can I crash at your place tonight? I don't feel safe being alone right now." I told her she could and we walked to the other side of the city since my bike was left back at the mall. Night time was getting ready to settle in and when we got back to my place I had her sleep on the couch and I went to lay in my bed as I looked at my rings that I had placed on my desk in front of me. I had three new rings I had found in my pocket after my battle. I just stared at them while lying down until I fell asleep.


	2. A Wizard's Pain, Abduction

I woke up the next day thinking that what had conspired yesterday was just a dream or some terrible nightmare. I grabbed some clothes from my dresser and my towel that was lying on top of it as I walked out to go take a shower. Once I walked out into the living room I dropped everything I was holding. I saw the woman named Karina laying on the couch and I turned around to look at the rings on my desk, "Oh crap, I wasn't dreaming all of that." I said.

Karina woke up and began stretching her arms, "Oh hey Travis. Did you sleep well?" She asked. I was kind of nervous to talk to her but ended up responding back, "Yea I slept fine." I said. I told her I was taking a shower and said I wanted to talk to her afterwards. I walked in and took a shower as I took off my Driver On ring and placed it on the counter of the sink. I turned on the water and stepped in. My showers were always five to ten minutes and then I would hop out. If they ever took any longer it usually meant I was depressed or the water just felt really good on my body. Once I was finished with cleaning myself I turned off the water, hopped out and dried off.

I put my new clothes on which was a green marble looking shirt and black jeans. I put my necklace around my neck and brushed my hair as well as my teeth. I put my belt on around my pants and threw my dirty clothes in the laundry basket. I opened the door and walked out to see Karina sitting at the kitchen table. I stood a few feet from her, "Hey what I wanted to talk about was that I'm glad you and I are safe, but I need to get ready for work and I don't like living with people anymore. So I'm going to have to see you off, I don't get many visitors here but I guess if you need to…You could stop by here anytime." That last part was hard for me since I have been anti-social and not around people for three years you tend to feel okay being a hermit.

Karina got up and gave me a hug as she thanked me again for saving her, "I'll stop by soon okay?" She asked. I didn't know what to say so I showed her out and wished that she would be okay getting back. She was fine and I gave her some money to get something to eat while she was on her way back home. Once she was far away from the house I closed and locked my doors. I walked back into my room where I saw the three rings lying on my desk. I wanted to try out my new rings so I put Driver On ring on my right middle finger and walked to my desk in my bedroom where I looked at the three rings that by how the picture were, spell rings.

The first one had a picture of a foot behind a face of a dragon, the second one had the weird lines like that on my transformation circle, and the third one had a picture of dragon with a shield in the middle it. I picked up the one with the weird lines and placed my Driver On ring over my belt.

 **"Driver On, please."**

The black hand extended out and revealed the silver buckle with the two levers. I pulled the lever on the left up and down.

 **"Lupachii Magic Touch to Go. Lupachii Magic Touch to Go."**

I took the Driver On ring off and slid this new one on and placed it over the belt, **"ERROR."**

The belt said. The music jingle stopped and I reverted my belt back to its original form. "So what good does this ring do? The others look like I should use them in battle but what does this one do?" I was getting annoyed with the fact that I wasn't able to get this question answered so I grabbed my keys to my bike and the house and decided to have a long walk over to the mall to grab my bike. I was actually happy that I didn't have to work today otherwise I would've been late.

It took me a good while to get over to the mall since I had to walk instead of bike. Once I got there I noticed the parking lot was a bit full probably because of that new superhero movie that came out. I saw my bike locked up where I left it and it was in between two cars. I walked into the parking lot as I took out my bike lock key. Once I put my key into the lock and turned it, I watched as a circle shot out of my black hand buckle and wrap itself around my bike. The bike had now turned into a grey and black motorcycle with a giant red stone at the front of it. The name on the left side in cursive writing said, "Machine Winger." I looked at it confused, "That's a terrible name for a bike." I said. I was amazed though at the giant motorcycle that was now mine. My bike lock key had also transformed into a bigger key. I got on to the bike and backed up as I started it up and zoomed off onto the street and headed to the downtown of the city. I got to the downtown and stopped at a coffee shop called Grounds for Thought.

I went inside and saw Rachel who was a close friend of the family. She was always trying to get me to try a new donut but my favorite always remained the same, "Hey Travis how are you today? I just made a new donut and I call it Happy Day donut." I looked at the donut with a pink frosting and sprinkles in the shape of a smile at the bottom, as well as the sprinkles being used for eyes at the top. I raised my finger and pointed at the donut in the middle of the glass container, "Plain sugar." I said.

Rachel always gave this surprised expression every time I turn down her offer to try a new donut. "Aw I thought you would like this one. You should try and smile more and thought this might put a smile on your face." Rachel knew everything about me, my bad childhood, the reason why I am the way I am, and even my parent's death. From time to time she'll stop by and drop off food at my place and sometimes clothes. I guess she tries to look out for me but also knows how I don't like socializing with people so she keeps everything short.

I gave her the money for the donut and she snuck in a second one for free, "You look a lot like your mom and dad Travis. I'm surprised with how old you are that you're able to keep moving. Don't you feel lonely at all without them?" I looked at her, "Sometimes. My parents always called me their little bundle of hope. The memories I have of them is how I'm able to get by day by day. I have a job and I seem to be doing fine on my own. Thanks for the donuts Rachel." I said.

I walked out of the story and back to my bike and finished eating one of my donuts. I put the other in the pocket of my trench coat and had a thought of going back to the forest. I drove my bike down the street and pass the city's Walmart supercenter. I got about half a mile out and drove up until I hit the entrance of the forest. I got off my bike and took my key out of the ignition. I wanted to check and see if the hole to the cave was still there and I walked back into the forest as the thoughts of me fighting ghouls was still fresh in my mind. When I walked into forest I didn't feel that feeling when we all walked in. The forest didn't give off this weird vibe either, but I did feel like I wasn't alone in this forest.

I walked up to where the hole was and noticed it wasn't there, "Where is the hole? It's gone like it never existed." I bent down examining the ground and then I heard a deep voice from behind me, "So you're not dead are you? I thought when I smashed that vehicle off the bridge you were in it." My body froze and I slowly stood up. I turned around to see the blue and white long horned figure standing twenty feet from me. "Where's the girl that was with you? Did she finally despair and become a Phantom?" This creature knew something, "No she isn't I sent her off on her own earlier today. But never mind that, what were you saying about smashing a vehicle off a bridge?" I was starting to get angry as I began remembering when I was told of how my parent had died.

The giant Minotaur looking monster began laughing, "Three years ago I slammed my entire body into the side of a car that was said to have held a Gate with high mana. In doing so I would be able create a new and strong Phantom but instead I found two adults with no mana and Gate in the wreckage. The destruction and how it went was a lot of fun nonetheless." The giant Minotaur had walked towards me while talking until he was standing in front of me. "But I guess now I get to finish the job, right Travis Edge."

The monster grabbed me by the throat and punched me in the stomach. He then dropped my body onto the ground where I was trying to stand back up but only got picked up by my coat and thrown a couple feet away from where I was laying. I got up, "Are you saying you're responsible for my parent's deaths?" I asked the monster. He began laughing again, "Yes I am. I am the reason why their bodies were so dismantled and pieces of that wretched car were all over the expressway!" I finally reached my breaking point and placed my ring over my belt buckle.

 **"Driver on, please."**

The silver belt appeared and I flipped one of the levers until the hand switched over to the next side.

 **"Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform. Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform."**

I raised my red ring and slid it on my right hand's middle finger, "I'm going to KILL YOU MURDERER! Transform!" I pushed the face guard down on my ring and placed it over my singing belt.

 **"Flame, please."**

I put my legs together and lifted my hand outstretched in front of me and ran towards the red magic circle.

 **"Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

the belt finished speaking and when I appeared my transformed outfit appeared on me and I had in my left hand my swordgun in gun mode.

I shot multiple of my bullets at the minotaur and he shot out a ball of fire that not only got rid of my bullets but was now going towards my direction. I put my gun in sword mode and sliced the ball of fire back at him. The monster absorbed its attack but wasn't ready when I sliced him on the side and sparks flew off the creature's skin as it fell backwards onto the ground. I put my sword in gun mode and opened the hand by pulling on the thumb on my weapon.

 **"C'mon and shoot! Shake hands! C'mon and shoot! Shake hands!**

 **Flame, shooting strike! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

I scanned my ring over the singing weapon and pulled the trigger at my parent's killer who was knocked on the ground. He saw what was going to happen to him and threw some stones on the ground which became Ghouls who took the attack. A big explosion happened and then I saw a ball of fire coming at my direction. I quickly reached for my ring in my ring holder and took out the dragon with a shield on it, "Time to try you out." I said.

I rolled over on the ground dodging the first fireball and the second one was coming up and I flipped the levers until it got to the spell side and quickly scanned the ring.

 **"Defend, please."**

A red circle appeared in front of me and then took the blast. "I see you got some new spells, they won't save you." The Minotaur looking monster took one step forward and was right in front of my face as it kicked my lower leg and then summoned out its weapon which was a spear similar to the ghouls. He sliced me and then kicked me onto my back. I was having a hard time trying to get up and then I saw my gun in just about arm's length away. He raised his weapon right over my face and the moment he lifted his blade I shot him in the face with my gun. He stumbled back and I turned my gun into a sword. I ran at him slicing him across his chest and then I threw my sword up in the air, grabbed it while spinning and sliced him across the middle of his chest. I was still enraged and knew that the only reason I was fighting was because of my adrenaline and emotions. I pressed the thumb on my blade and quickly scanned my Flame ring over.

 **"Flame Slash Strike. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

My sword's blade was engulfed in flames and when I ran to deal the finishing blow ghouls appeared out of nowhere. They had surrounded me in a circle and the monster took this moment to flee the battle. "NO! GET BACK HERE! All of you get the hell out of my face!" I said. I swung my blade around in a circle and pressed the trigger as a circle of fire attacked all of the ghouls and causing an explosion.

When I looked at what was left I saw nothing but fire in a couple different areas of the forest. I reverted back out of my transformed state, pounded the ground and yelled in the huge forest as I let my parent's killer escape. Someone was walking up behind me and they put their hand on my shoulder which I grabbed and slammed them on the ground in front of me. I saw Karina in pain as she was taken from the shock.

She was able to get her breath, "I saw the fight and heard what happened. I didn't know you were hiding all of that pain." She said to me on the verge of tears. I was still upset at my killer getting away. She tried saying more comforting words to me but I wasn't having it, "Travis talk to me. You can talk to me I'll listen to you. I'm your friend right?" I walked a bit away from her not knowing what my anger could do, "Just stay away from me. I don't need your sympathy and I don't need you." I warned her.

Karina walked up to me and tried to grab my hand and I only knocked it to the side, "I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M NEVER GOING TO TRUST ANYONE EVER AGAIN SO JUST KNOCK IT OFF! Stop trying to cling to me like some leech." I heard Karina start crying and I realized what I had done. I continued walking back to my bike and zoomed off down the road going back home leaving Karina behind at the forest. I went home to try and forget the rest of this day.

(Minotauros Viewpoint)

I had kept running in the forest until I came up to a cave that was hidden by magic from our Phantom King: Carbuncle. Upon entering I approached Carbuncle's bed. He had a sheet that covered his bed and no one was allowed inside at any given time. I could see my leader's shadow and I kneeled down, "Sir, I have some news for you. The Gate with really high mana from that incident three years ago, is something more. He has rings and has obtained the ability to become a force to be reckon with." The shadow figure that was moving around stopped, "Travis Edge is alive? So he has found Dragon's power and has become Masked Rider Wizard huh? Any news about the girl he's with?" He asked. "My apologies she wasn't with him at the time of my encounter just now." I said.

I heard someone else walk into the cave, "What a terrible liar you are Minotauros, tsk tsk tsk." I quickly summoned out a ball of fire and shot it at the person behind me thinking of them to be intruders. A Phantom in red and something that looked birdlike with a giant two-handed sword took the attack knocking it away into the walls. He began laughing, "Seriously? That fire power is like a candle to me. I'm surprised you were able to handle the Ringed Mage with those skills."

Behind the red Phantom was a female one with snakes in her hair, a purple body and a white face with red lips staring at us. "I find it rude that one of our own decided to raise his hands at us without even thinking right Phoenix?" The snake haired woman said. "Who are you guys? I've never seen you around until just now." I demanded.

Carbuncle spoke up for them, "Minotauros these are my new generals Phoenix and Medusa. They were just recently born from their Gates who exhibited a high mana. They are your superiors and you will show them respect." I looked at Phoenix who had this laughing thing going on, "Yea you better listen to us otherwise we will pummel you into the ground you little booger." This guy had a bad attitude but I could tell just by Medusa alone I'm not going to win in a fight.

Medusa walked a bit out of sight as she brought in a collapsed body and threw it on the ground, "This girl is a Gate. She's a special one and we already know how to make her despair. Minotauros you will have another round with the Ringed Wearing Magician, and will use her as bait. You don't have to do much to have her despair, just lure the Mage to your location and you'll be able to make her despair based off of what's going on around you. The thing that keeps her going happens to be that Mage." I looked down at the collapsed body to see a bruised and scratched up girl who was the one that the Mage was hanging around with.

"I'll do it and I have just the place for them both to give in their despair. I guess we are having Travis re-live his parent's death at midnight tonight. I began laughing with the others and grabbed the body and put it on my back and walked out of the cavern. Once I got out of the cavern I walked up to my van and placed the woman Karina's collapsed body into the back seat and tied her down then I drove out to an expressway to set up my plan on killing both Karina and Travis.


	3. Life is A Showtime

The bridge was rumored to be cursed after the incident three years ago. I rammed Travis's parent's off the bridge in hopes to create a new Phantom from his corpse. Since then the bridge had been sealed off and another bridge was built about half a mile down. No one came near this bridge but the highway below was always busy. I drove up to the entrance of the bridge and carried Karina's body until I got to the middle of it where the car ran off the road. I placed the body down on the ground up against the wall next to the giant hole. I woke the Gate up, "Time to wake up little girl." I said slapping her cheeks.

She grunted and then opened her eyes, "Where am I? Monster!" She screamed at that last part putting her arms over her face and grabbing her head. In my mind I knew who this girl was and reverted my monster form to my host's human form. A purple mist emanated around me and my seventeen year old self appeared.

"Karina, you can look this way now. You are going to be alright. Your big brother is here now." Karina stopped screaming and being bundled into a ball as I walked closer to her.

"I must be dreaming, yes that's it, there's no way you can be here right now Eduardo." Karina was sniffling with tears still coming down her face.

She started to touch my face and then wrapped her arms around me, "I'm so sorry for what I did. I didn't think I'd ever see you again. I heard you died in the fire that night but you're alive and I knew it all along." I wrapped her in my arms as tight as I could letting her believe that her brother was alive. "I'm so sorry for all of that, I was just upset and didn't mean to say those things to you. Eduardo I'm so happy you're alive." My memories began swarming my mind of how I was able to erupt out of my Gate's body. Me and Karina were having a fight because she was being too clingy and needy to her family. Her mom and dad had kicked us out of the house for good and moved back to Mexico. We were left to fend for ourselves and I was left to do everything because Karina wasn't able to take our situation serious. She was always wanting this and needing that, let alone she wouldn't get a job to help get us off the streets. We had to even steal from stores because finding adequate work was hard. We lived in city park bathrooms, up in trees, or inside garbage cans when we had nowhere else to go. We finally found a barn that was abandoned out in the country and we took it over and began living there. Our lives were looking up during the two years our parents abandoned us.

Then one day Karina had gotten caught for stealing and at this time I was able to find an adequate job as a newspaper boy. I picked up my sister from the station and paid back for the items so she didn't go to jail. That night we had a fight about how we no longer had to do illegal things and I told her that she needed to start pulling her own weight. About a year went on and she still didn't get it through her head that she needed to be responsible. One day she made a mistake and accidentally burned not only the barn but our home. I don't know how she did it but I was asleep in my room and she was downstairs when the accident happened. I woke up to hearing her scream my name and when I awoke my room was on fire. She was screaming my name so loudly and my path to the hallway was blocked. I broke my window and ran out onto the roof as I got to the next window in the room next to me. I got in and ran outside to see Karina surrounded by fire and her leg looked like it was sprained. I grabbed a bucket of water from the bathroom and threw it on the flames enough to get me inside and put her on my back. Our pathway to get downstairs was blocked by fire and I walked us back to the room where I re-entered the house and with my phone I called the fire department. I had placed Karina next to the window.

"What did you do?! Our home is getting destroyed and turning to ashes!" I don't remember her answer but I do remember what I said to her, "You're a fricking idiot! Because of that we are losing our only home that I'VE worked so hard on getting! That's it I'm done with you! If we get out of this I'm leaving you just like our parents left us! If I didn't have a leech like you slowing me down I wouldn't have had to have all the trouble."

Karina began crying and she got up and pushed me on my back, "You think you've had it rough! I miss my mom and dad! I didn't want to be in this life and I wasn't even given a choice! I don't know what to do. You've always bullied me before our parents left us, and you even tried to kill me once! Why would I want to help you in anything! I wish you would just die!" She yelled at me She hopped up out of the window and I heard something from down below. I looked back and saw the floor starting to cave in and I ran towards the window and right before I was in arm's reach for the window the floor beneath me caved in and I fell into the kitchen area where I banged my head on the side of the table but not before seeing purple cracks form all over my hands.

Back in the present, I took Karina's hands from her face as she was crying, "I got a job now, and I got one after the fire. I went on holding onto that memory making myself better so that I would never have to be the person I was before. I even held onto the pendant you had before the fire as a way to give me hope that one day I could be the Karina I should've been. It's the thing that gives me hope to make it through each and every day." I finally had my chance and I raised my hand out to her.

"Can I see it? It was the one thing I missed than anything else in the world." I asked.

Karina took her necklace off and placed it around my neck, "I made sure to take care of out of all this time. It's become my most prized possession."

I smile as I slowly got up and took a step back, "I'm sure it is. I'm also sure that you will give rise to a powerful Phantom my precious little Gate." I grabbed her by the throat and threw her a few feet from me. The look on her face was priceless and I tore the necklace off of me as I showed her my Phantom. "You humans are all so weak. Holding onto little things to get you through day by day. What's even more pathetic is the things you hold so dearly to for hope are not only the small things, but the most fragile." I dropped the pendant onto the ground and raised my foot as I stomped on it until it broke to little pieces. Karina had raised out her hand and then her whole body froze.

Small purple cracks started forming around her fingers and slowly began starting to go upwards, "I was going to lure out Travis so I could get both of you to despair at the same time but I think I would be okay with it just being you. You who will die here without anyone ever knowing who you are. No one will know you've died and no one would even care." I began laughing knowing that my victim will soon die, but then I got kicked in my back and fell next to Karina.

(Travis's Viewpoint)

I saw Karina on the bridge just get thrown down on the ground and I immediately was riding my bike up until the entrance to the bridge, "I have to save her! I have to tell her how sorry I am for yelling at her. I just hope I make it to her in time." I got off my bike and ran until I was able to get myself between them, and when I did I jumped high in the air and kicked the Phantom down on the ground.

"The ring bearing magician? What are you doing here?" I had landed on my feet on the ground looked at Karina who was having purple cracks slowly appear all over her body.

"What did you do to her Phantom?" I said with an angry look on my face.

The monster got up off the ground, "I am causing her to give into her despair. Before I became this I was once her hardworking brother who got tired of her being lazy and dragging me down. If you're going to try and protect her you'd have a better chance at finding someone who is worth protecting, she is just unnecessary space." He said.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my ring, "Karina is not unnecessary space, every human being has room to live in this world and you have no right to tell or judge them otherwise knowing the fact that you're no longer human yourself." I slid my ring on my right hand middle finger, "What's more, Karina is worth protecting in my eyes, because she is and always will be my friend." I placed my ring over my belt.

 **"** **Driver On."**

I took out my Flame transformation ring and slid it over my left hand middle finger then turned the levers on my belt until the hand turned to my left side, "And you don't have any justified right to kill any of my friends! Transform!" I placed the ring over the singing belt and it lit up.

 **"** **Flame, please. Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

I put my feet together and lifted my hand up into the air as a red circle appeared next to me and slowly moved across my body, "Now, it's showtime." I said as I showed my ring to my enemy.

"You don't have much time to defeat me before your friend is consumed by her own despair. Once all of the cracks have formed and gotten bigger she will die and her Phantom will be born. I'd say you have about five minutes by the looks of it." The Minotaur threw out the stones again creating ghouls and I summoned out my swordgun.

"I will not be playing around like I did last time." I said.

I saw Karina curled up in a ball crying, "Just leave me be Travis, he's right you don't need to save someone like me. Just leave me be."

She was already giving up and I wasn't going to see that, "Wait for me Karina, I'll be there soon." I pressed back on the thumb on my sword and scanned my transformation ring.

 **"** **Flame Slash Strike! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

I ran towards the group of ghouls with my sword ablazed slashing each and every one of them without pressing the trigger, and once I got through all of them I pressed the trigger and each one of them exploded. I then turned my sword into a gun and fired multiple bullets at the minotaur who summoned out his spear and blocked my bullets by slicing them. "You'll have to try a lot harder than that Wizard!" I pressed back on the thumb and the tune had changed.

 **"** **C'mon Shoot and shake hands! C'mon shoot and shake hands! Flame, shooting strike! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

I ran towards the Minotaur who took his spear and did a stab attack which I jumped sideways in the air to dodge. While in midair I raised my gun at him which was gathering a bunch of flames at the tip of my gun and pulled the trigger. The giant ball of fire shot out and hit the monster in his face causing him to wipe his face while stumbling until he hit the side of the bridge, "AH! MY FACE! MY FACE! IT BURNS!" He said screaming.

He summoned out a giant ball of fire and began shooting it in random directions. One of the balls he was shooting out was on its way too Karina and I quickly pulled out a ring from my ring holder located on my left waist, "I need to protect her!" I said as I switched my belt's hand back to the spell side.

 **"** **Defend, please!"**

I got in front of the blast and placed my hands up as the red circle appeared in front of me taking the blast. Another ball was coming and I didn't have time to scan the ring so I took my gun and turned it back into a sword, then sliced at the ball of fire knocking it away. The monster stopped firing balls of fire in random directions and was finally looking at me, "I'm out of ghouls and now you've burned my face! You will die right here and right now mage." The monster lifted his arms and was summoning out a giant ball of fire, in response I took out my ring that I haven't gotten to use.

"I'll match your greatest attack with my very own." I pulled the levers up and down as the hand went to transformation then back to spell.

 **"** **Lupachhi magic touch to go! Lupacchi magic touch to go!**

 **Very nice! Kick Strike! The Best!"**

I had scanned the ring with a foot coming down with a dragon going downwards and jumped really high in the air, "Now the finale!" I said.

My right foot was now engulfed in flames and a few red circles appeared in front of me that I was to use as a path to the Minotaur, the monster then threw the giant ball of fire at me and I began my descend down towards him. Once I went through the second red circle I had collided with the ball of fire and the attack began wrapping itself around my foot making my entire body engulfed in flames. I kicked right through the monster and once I landed and turned around, he exploded into nothing but ashes. "Whew."

I said. Dragon spoke with urgency in my belt, "Travis quick get to Karina! Use the other ring and slide it on her finger, then scan the ring over your belt!" I quickly grabbed the ring with lines on it and ran over to Karina and slid it on her.

"Please, just leave me alone. I can't do anything, I'm just a burden." She said pleadingly.

"I've decided and have already made up my mind. You're coming to stay with me Karina, you will live with me and I will take care of you. I didn't come this far just to watch you die; I've come here to save you. When you have lost all of your hope, I will give you mine in order for you to live on. I will give you the hope you need." I switched the belt's hand back and forth again and scanned the ring over the singing belt.

 **"** **Engage, please."**

A red spell circle hovered over Karina's body and I hopped inside.

I was falling and all I could see around me were spell circles and something that looked like purple covering all sides around me until I went through a portal that showed a house and a small girl running towards it. A boy stepped outside and it looked like the kid who was a phantom that I just fought holding his arms out giving what looks like to be Karina a hug. She jumped into his arms, "Be careful Travis, this is Karina's Underworld, the source of her despair. This is when, without warning she became a Gate. Now that she is on the verge of giving into her despair and dying the Phantom that she harbors inside her will more likely start destroying this world. You have to destroy the monster before it causes too much damage and breaks free from her body." Dragon told me. Next to me was my motorcycle that came out of nowhere and I got on. When I did I watched as Karina jumped into the arms of her brother and then a giant crack covered the image of the two and a half man half horse looking creature busted out and began shooting arrows at different parts of her world.

Every arrow began leaving purple cracks and the monster was as tall as Dragon, "How the hell do you expect me to fight something bigger than me?!" I said to Dragon. I looked down to see a ring near the Centaur's foot and I knew I only had one chance at this.

"This is peculiar; the girl's Underworld has produced a ring, and not just any ring but the ring to summon me out and fight. Travis you need to get to that ring before the Centaur accidentally smash's it." I started up my motorbike and rode towards the beast who had glimpsed my presence and started firing it's arrows at me.

 **"** **Defend, please."**

I scanned my ring over my belt and used it to block the arrows but they started getting deflected into the sky where more cracks were being formed. I revved up my bike and the Centaur launched another arrow that I could not dodge unless I ditched my bike. I summoned out my swordgun and started firing bullets at the beast that hit him in the face and didn't do any damage. I was almost there towards the ring and the Centaur saw what I was aiming for and raised its foot to destroy the ring. "Oh crap! It's going to destroy the ring!" I said. I drove my bike sideways and hopped off of it, then kicked it towards the monster's foot. It missed by inches and I was able to stand right above the ring on the ground and scanned my ring once more, "Defend, please." A red circle appeared in front of my right hand and I placed that up to stop his foot. Holding back the foot was heavy and I leaned backwards trying to grab the ring. "Just…A little…More!" I outstretched my hand and grabbed the ring, then rolled over on the ground as I looked at the ring. The ring had a dragon curled up and I placed it on my finger and switched the black hand on my belt from transformation to spell formation.

 **"** **Dragorise! Please!"**

A red circle formed around my hand and threw out my hand into the sky as my mechanical dragon appeared out of the circle and began fighting the monster.

I watched as Dragon rammed right into the Centaur clawing and biting him. Centaur punched Dragon across the face and then grabbed him by the wings as it started to try and pull him apart, "YOU LET GO OF HIM!" I said. I raised my gun and pulled back on the thumb.

 **"** **C'mon and shoot! Shake hands! C'mon and shoot! Shake hands!**

 **Flame, Shooting Strike! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

I pulled on the trigger as a giant ball of fire hit the Centaur in the face as he dropped Dragon and he fell on the ground. I fired one more shot at him and then started to feel like I was losing power, "Why do I feel so weak. I feel like I'm extremely exhausted, but I can't give up. I need to save Karina!" I said. I ran over and got on my bike and drove next to Dragon's head.

"Wizard, combine your bike on my back and use the Kick Strike ring while on my back. If you do that we can one shot kill this thing and go home." I looked at him as I was worried about my health condition.

"I'm feeling really weak right now, but I think I can do one more spell. Let's make it count Dragon!" I took my bike and rode it up onto his back and the bike began locking onto him as Dragon took off into the air. Centaur was starting to be able to see and drew back his bow. I took out my ring and replaced Dragorise with Kick Strike. "Finale!" I said as I pressed the levers to cycle back the belt from transformation to spell.

 **"** **Lupacchi Magic Touch to Go!**

 **Very Nice! Kick Strike! The Best!"**

I began hovering into the air as the wings on Dragon arched back and his neck became straight. I started falling very quickly towards Dragon's back and stuck out my right leg as I brought my left leg back. My right foot made impact with Dragon's tail and we became engulfed in flames as I, along with Dragon, went right through Centaur leaving a giant hole through his chest and he didn't even had a chance to fire his final arrow.

The monster fell down as a giant explosion was made and I saw a red circle appear in front of me and through the circle I saw Karina's body with all of the purple cracks now gone. I walked through the circle and de-spelled my transformation and picked her body up, "Karina! Hey wake up! Come on and say something to me! Karina!" I looked all around as Karina wasn't waking up and started to realize that I might be too late. For the first time in three years I began to cry as I held Karina's dead body in my arms knowing that i couldn't help her. Suddenly, I looked up to see another Wizard bearing all white with grey rings hanging from his right shoulder to his left side slowly walking. His orange gemstone face was wearing a white hood that went with his white cape. He took a ring off of his ring holder and kneeled down in front of me and slid the Engage ring off and replaced it with this one. This ring had a hand and something that looked like a stone hovering over the hand.

"You can still save her Wizard." This white wizard said as he brought her hand over too my belt that had reverted back and the ring on Karina's hand began to glow.

 **"** **Please, please."**

I started to feel really weak as something began glowing and surrounding Karina's body. Rain began to fall hard around us, "Who are you? What did you do?" I asked the mysterious figure.

He only responded with this, "Twice every week you must have her scan that ring over your belt and give her some of your mana. As long as you do this she will not die, she will live on as long as you take care of her. She isn't a Gate anymore, but you mustn't let the Phantoms get a hold of her. She will be a great power source for them so stay with her at all times. These are also for you as well as an address to the person who made these rings. He is located on the other side of town. He runs an antique store, you two will go to him. There it is safe and the Phantoms won't find you. Going back to your home to stay is out of the option for you now. You will spend the rest of your time fighting the Phantoms and collecting the rings that are scattered all over the city. We will meet again Wizard." The white wizard had given me a sheet of paper and three rings.

The rings had a picture of a red bird, a blue unicorn, and a yellow squid looking thing. I was starting to feel really tired and when I blinked and looked back up the figure was gone. Karina began to wake up, "Bro, I'm cold." Karina said faintly as she fell asleep. I needed to get us out of her and picked her body up and looked at the address.

"Other side of town? This is just right down the street." I picked up Karina's body after putting the rings in my pocket and we walked down the road. I left my bike at the entrance of the bridge telling myself I would come back for it later. All I really wanted to do was sleep and was hoping this guy at this address would let us spend the night at least.


	4. Police Officer Robin

(Travis's Viewpoint)

-Three Months Later-

It has been three months since I obtained my new set of rings, and saved Karina from becoming the monster's known as Phantoms. My three new rings the white wizard had given me were Familiar Rings. The rings were a Red Garuda, Blue Unicorn, and Yellow Kraken. When I scan them, a plastic model kit appears and puts itself together to form whatever creature is on the ring. These things have been really helpful when it comes to tracking down Phantoms. I still have to give Karina my mana twice a week to keep her alive and every time I fight Phantoms or Ghouls I notice that I have a lot more mana to utilize after restoring it all. Karina the next day after our fight with Minotauros, which I found his name thanks to Karina, she gave back the Engage Ring and I have yet to use it on anyone.

The Phantom attacks have stopped for the past two months and within that time I moved all of my stuff from my old home to this antique store. The store owner was none other than DJ who was my boss from The Blade. He was the owner of this antique/jewelry store and a computer repairmen store. The computer store was more located in the back and that's what has customers come by for. The front of the store had wooden flooring, a coffee table in the middle of the room surrounded by chairs to sit at, the walls covered with different antiques that were up for sale as well as the display windows. When you approach the back of the store there are two rooms in the corners. The one on the left was where DJ made his jewelry or in this case, rings if I bring him any magical stones. Upon the month of him taking me in, DJ gave me this chest to put my rings. He said this chest will hold my rings and when I'm in battle and in need of them, they will magically appear in my ring holder and replace out one of my other rings. He's been great at keeping us here and mentioned that I could still keep my job if I wanted at The Blade. He had set it up to where I work on my own time so I could spend the time needed to fight Phantoms. He even gave Karina a job at running the shop with him in exchange for rent and food. She even helps clean up around the place; we have to keep her inside the shop because the Phantoms can't seem to trace her mana there. If she were to leave the shop I'd accompany her. She was extremely happy to have a job and place so she tries her best to be a great employee.

It took her a week without talking to either of us of what had happened out on the bridge and to process everything in her head. I promised her I would take every Phantom down so other people didn't have to experience what she did. I was happy that I finally took down my parent's killer but had felt bad for a bit about killing the Phantom that was once Karina's brother. When Karina came around she told me not to worry about it and we decided to try and move on from the scenario. About a month back we found a clear orb in the antique shop that resonated with Karina's high mana output. With this she could keep an eye on me wherever I was in Bowling Green while out fighting Phantoms. DJ gave the both of us these sleek thin flip phones to keep in touch at all times. I had a deep blue one and Karina had a hot pink one. Karina could even use the orb to see through the eyes of my Familiars and communicate with them so I would know where to go to stop Phantom attacks.

The date is May 3rd 2014 and I was fast asleep in my bedroom upstairs. I always was a heavy sleeper whenever I depleted too much of my mana. The day before while I was out exploring more of that wooded forest I found a big orange looking magical stone and took it back home to have DJ work his magic with making rings out of it. I rolled over in my bed and fell onto the floor which woke me right up, "Ugh!? Again, I'm always falling out of this bed." I said standing back up. I made my bed fixing it up all nice and neat then took a quick shower. Once I got out I put on these red faded jeans, my red marbled shirt, my cross necklace, and my shoes. Decided to skip out on my trench coat since it was going to be a bit hot out today. I walked downstairs and saw Karina filling out a Sudoku puzzle and DJ working hard in his shop.

"Morning Travis, did you sleep well?" Karina asked. I responded back to her.

"I slept fine, fell out of my bed again, other than that I slept fine." Karina loved hearing me fall out of my bed.

Three months hearing and seeing it happen and it still put a smile on her face. I took a right and walked into the jewelry room, "Hey old man how are the rings coming?" I said to DJ. DJ was in his thirties but with the beard he was growing and his short faded hair he looked old. Me and him were always cracking jokes with each other and have really bonded over the past three months.

"Well how are you doing today sir? I only got one ring done I'm putting the plate on it right now and you can give it a shot." He said. He had taken a face plate and snapped it into place to reveal a dragon sticking its head and tail out of a circle.

"I'm guessing this is a spell ring, let's see what this baby can do." I said to him. I hovered my right hand over my belt buckle.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

My silver belt with the big black hand in the middle appeared and I took my Driver On ring off and slid the new one in replace to it.

"Don't you think that you'd want to try this spell outside Travis?" Karina asked.

"Nah it doesn't look like an attack spell ring so I think doing it in here will be fine." I said to her.

I pulled the levers on the side of the belt up and down and immediately placed the ring over the singing belt.

 **"** **Connect, please."**

I lifted my hand off and my red spell circle hovered in front of my hand. I put my hand into the circle and pulled it back after grabbing something from inside. It was a plain sugar donut and Karina looked behind her to see the donuts that Rachel had dropped off for me yesterday was missing one.

"Oh I love this spell. I can grab anything and it seems if I think of what I want to grab and where it is, this spell will allow my hand to guide it and take it. This is really interesting DJ thank you!" I said excitingly. DJ walked out into the living room area to give me a piece of paper which turned out to be my paycheck from work.

"I almost forgot your paycheck came into work yesterday and I forgot to give it to you." DJ said handing me the paper. "Sweet I guess I'll go into town and cash it, but first I should have my Plamonsters do a check up on the city while I'm out." I took out from the chest in the living room the Familiar Rings that I called Plamonsters, because they were plastic model kits that turned into creatures.

I flipped the levers back and forth and scanned each of the rings.

 **"** **Garuda, please."**

I watched as the red plate appeared in front of me and Garuda was being put together. I took off my ring and placed it into Garuda's chest. I put Kraken on next.

 **"** **Kraken, please."**

I watched as a yellow plate appeared and Kraken was being put together, then I took my ringer and put it into Kraken's face so he could see. "You two are to take to the sky and be on the lookout for any Phantoms." Kraken and Garuda looked at each other and started head butting the other in midair, "Hey calm down guys and work together. We need to be serious about this okay?" These two Familiars always liked wrestling with each other and since they both can fly in the air they always try to play a game of tag. They zoomed off and went out the open window in the room and I grabbed my helmet while getting ready to walk out the door, "I'll see you guys later." I said to everyone. DJ said his goodbyes and Karina ran up to me and gave me a hug.

"Come back soon bro." She said with a smile on her face. I hugged her tightly back and walked out the door and up to my bike. I hopped on and put my helmet on, started the bike, then rode off into town.

(Robin's Viewpoint)

Up at the Bowling Green Police Department we had an urgent 9-1-1 call about a bank heist and I was getting ready for my squad and me to act out on it. "What's the current situation?" I said to my supervisor as I loaded my gun with bullets and put on my bulletproof vest. "A man about six foot and no shirt on walked into the Huntington Bank a couple blocks down from here and is holding a bank teller hostage. He keeps going on about wanting money and is willing to kill everyone in the bank." My supervisor said over the phone. I got into a car and took three police cars with me as we drove down the street. There was a giant hole in the front entrance that you can see clearly inside. All of the officers pulled out their guns and slowly walked towards the hole getting ready to fight. Once we all gathered to the hole my supervisor said something over the radio.

"We have you surrounded, release the hostages and come out slowly with your hands up." I grabbed one of the smoke grenades off of one of the SWAT team and threw it in to give us some cover. "EVERYONE MOVE IN AND SECURE THE HOSTAGES!" I screamed as we ran into the bank grabbing people and escorting them out into a safe place.

Once I got inside I saw the man run to the other side of the bank and I chased after him to help free the woman hostage in his hands. I finally got up to him and in a corner, "Put your hands up and let the hostage go! NOW!" I said raising my gun up at the man. The man had muscles all over his body and wearing tattered jeans with no shoes.

"Oh I would let this hostage go but I don't think my master would enjoy me in doing so." He said. I kept my gun up aimed at his face.

"You let her go! If you want a hostage you can take me but not her!" I said trying to reason with the man.

"There's a reason why I'm doing all this and it's not for the money. I'm not like you humans who needed such inadequate things!" He said. "For instance, I don't care about human lives so if you don't drop your weapon, I'll twist this lady's neck off and then I'll come for you." He said. The man put his arms tightly around the lady's neck and I could tell she was quickly losing oxygen as her face started to slowly change colors.

"Okay! Okay! I'm putting my gun down." I said as I dropped my weapon.

I put my hands up and noticed him take his arms away from her neck. He then had a purple mist form around him and a monster was now replaced where he once stood. He had a black and white body with a spider insignia on his chest, his facial features had eight eyes, he had four arms, white legs and feet, spider looking legs on the side of his face and his hands were wrapped with what looked like legs. His mouth was open baring his two inch fangs that were salivating onto the ground. I watched as he picked up the hostage and hovered his mouth over her head.

"Now give into despair my little Gate and give birth to a wonderful Phantom!" He said excited. I began to feel something hurt inside my body and before I had a chance to react I saw bullets start zooming through the air and make contact with the giant spider monster standing in front of me. I turned around to see a boy holding a weird looking gun in his hands.

"Get your ugly looking fangs away from the woman now!" He said.

I heard the woman fall onto the ground and the spider monster began speaking to him, "The Ring Bearing Magician! I knew you'd show up, you've been a nuisance to the Phantoms for some time now." I didn't know what was going on as I tried to figure out how a man just transformed into a monster.

"What is going on here? What is happening?" I said questioning myself as I got ready to watch these two take each other on.

(Travis's Viewpoint)

"You know I've been hearing that title for the past three months, can't you guys come up with something better than that? Also I was hoping to cash my check today so I could take someone shopping. Fat chance that happening today because you decided to put a big hole in the front entrance!" I said. I scanned my ring over my belt.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

My belt formed around my waist and I slid my Flame ring on my other finger as I pulled up and down the levers.

 **"** **Flame, please. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

I raised my hand up to the right of me as a big red spell circle appeared and engulfed my body to show off my transformation into Wizard, "Now it's showtime." I said. I brushed my cape to the side and ran towards the monster. I saw the spider monster shoot webbing out of it's mouth and I saw it heading for the ceiling.

"I don't have time to deal with you right now Magician so I'll leave you to this!" The spider said.

The roof began breaking apart as the monster pulled down on the webbing and the person who was going to get crushed was the police officer. I quickly pulled out my Defend ring and scanned as I stood in front of the office.

 **"** **Defend, please."**

My belt said. A red circle formed above us as I raised my hand to stop the debris from crushing us. Trying to keep the roof from crushing us was hard with one hand so I took out my gun and began shooting at the ceiling creating a hole around us and then when a portion of the ceiling was gone I commanded my shield to push the debris to the side of us and ran over to check on the hostage who was still breathing but was going to need an ambulance, "You get a rescue team in here quick!" I said to the officer. She quickly agreed and pulled out her radio.

"I need backup and an ambulance now! We have an injured victim." She said. With her back turned to me I started to slowly walk away to the back exit of the bank, "Stop right there! You're coming with me to the station and answering some questions for me. For instance, what was that thing? What are you? As well to what you are doing here?" I kept walking and responded back to her.

"I came here to cash my work check and I saw a monster." I kept walking and then I was cuffed by the officer, "Um what is this all about?" I asked her confused.

"You're under arrest for Destruction of Governmental Property, Assault, and Vigilantism." I remember after hearing this I made a very surprised screech and to avoid other people seeing my as Wizard I reverted back to my human state.

"You're making a very big mistake; I'm the only one who can protect you from those things. You really don't want to lock me up and have me arrested." I said to her. She grabbed the chains between my cuffs and started dragging me back to the front entrance of the hospital as a rescue squad started running past me to help the injured lady. I was then placed quickly into the back of a squad car overhearing how I'm a suspect in the crime and watched as she got into the car and drove me down to the Bowling Green Police Department. Once inside I was put inside a room where it was all brick walls and a table in the middle of the room. She uncuffed and had a box of donuts placed in front of me, "Look you look like a really beautiful lady but I don't date anyone over the age of eighteen while I'm fifteen, it looks really bad on you and me." The officer didn't find my joke to be funny as she slammed her hand on the table.

"Look if you want to be released from this building and not go to jail I'm going to need you to give me everything you know of what just happened. If you don't talk and be 100% honest with me you will get locked away at the juvenile facility and you will be there until you're an adult which then with the charges you will be tried for adult prison, I really don't think you have any ground to make jokes right now kid." She said in a serious tone.

I got a look at her name badge on her uniform, "Officer Robin, look I don't like being open to people, I don't have really good socializing skills so it would be best if you just let me out, also none of the donuts you have here I'll eat because none of them are Plain Sugar. Plus the longer I stay in here the more people are going to die because of that monster roaming free." Robin got up and walked out of the office but not before something came out of her radio.

"The man has shown up again this time he is holding a hostage over a roof. He is looking for Officer Robin Meade." Robin looked at me with some worry, "You will come with me down to a holding cell until you decide to talk. But I'm warning you if I don't hear anything by the time we catch this guy, you will be trialed as his accomplice." Robin said. She cuffed me and took me down the hall where a single cell was located and put me inside, angry now I began yelling at her once the bars closed.

"HEY! IF YOU GO OUT THERE YOU'LL DIE! YOUR GUNS DON'T HAVE THE CAPABILITIES TO FIGHT THAT THING! I DO LET ME HELP YOU! HEY! HEY!" I said banging on the cell. I punched the wall multiple times, "She's going to die if I don't do anything! I can't let more Phantoms be created either, but none of my spells or rings has the ability to break me out of this cell! What the hell is driving her to be so reckless and stupid?!" After saying that everything began to make sense, "Wait the Phantom told her to give into her despair when I ran into the bank didn't it? That would make Robin a Gate! But what is driving her?" I thought. I was thinking hard at what the Phantom was doing to push her to the brink and then it hit me, "The victims?! It's purposely luring out Robin wanting to kill whoever the Phantom has to die. Also if that person has enough mana an unexpected death it could give birth to a new phantom meaning I'll be dealing with three instead of one!"

I knew the situation was bad and grabbed my phone from my pocket calling Karina, "Hello this is Karina." She said on the other phone. I asked her for some help after telling her my situation.

"Robin is the Gate and if I don't get out of this holding cell soon we will be having two new phantoms on top of a third one to deal with. Is there any way you guys can get me out of here?" I pleaded. "Well Kraken just got back from the bank being taken over and has something that looks like a ring but it's got a bunch of dirt on it, I'm not sure if it will work. Are there any windows in your cell?" She asked.

I looked around and didn't see any, "No, but last I checked I never needed a window. I'm going to be grabbing the ring now; just leave it next to the orb." I said to her. I hung up the phone and placed my Connect ring on my finger then over my black hand belt buckle.

 **"** **Connect, please."**

My belt said. A red circle appeared next to me where I grabbed the ring from the table and brought it into the holding cell with me.

I began brushing the dirt and gunk off the ring and it was a picture of a grey dragon outline with a smaller orange dragon outline. "This looks like a ring that can help me shrink. I guess it's time to bring out Unicorn." I said. I slid Connect off and replaced it with the Blue Unicorn Ring then scanned it.

 **"** **Unicorn, please!"**

I watched as Unicorn started forming in front of me. I placed the Unicorn ring on it's chest. The unicorn fell to the ground and I put the new ring on.

 **"** **Small, please."**

My belt said. My human size body shrunk until I was just the size of a human hand. I got on unicorn's back and we ran in between the bars and towards the nearest exit which was a flight of stairs that luckily had the door opened. Once we got to the first step I hopped off Unicorn and reverted back to my normal size, I then took the ring off of Unicorn's chest as he disappeared, "Now I need to get to Robin!" I said running down the flight of stairs and out the station's front door.

It didn't take a wild guess of where the commotion was coming from as cop cars were just a couple of blocks down the street in the residential part of the city and everyone was looking up at the roof of a building. I took a back route running and hopping through people's backyards until I got to the building that had a fire escape. I had a hard time jumping up trying to get the ladder and knock it down, "I need to get up there!" I said jumping up for the ladder and missing by a few inches. Suddenly, Garuda and Kraken showed up attacking the ladder until it fell down, "Thanks you guys are awesome!" I said to them.

Garuda and Kraken made their animal noises in excitement and I began climbing until I got to the roof. When I got to the roof I saw Robin holding her gun at the muscled man holding a woman by her throat near the edge of the building. None of them noticed me as I hid behind a brick wall listening into their conversation, "You will put down your gun, otherwise this elderly woman will die. The choice is yours Robin Meade." The monster said.

Robin was clearly hesitating, "You tried to kill the last victim don't think I'll fall for the same trick twice!" The phantom sounded intrigued by this.

"You think your bullets will work on me? Let me tell you something my precious Gate, I live to kill any and every one. It's where the fun is you see? I already know what keeps you going, the hope that keeps you alive, it's protecting people right? All for your sister's sake who was killed by a man three years ago. You weren't able to save her and lost the very thing you cared about. I bet you remember how twisted her neck was, how black and bruised her face was, and how badly her body was cut up by just a regular steak knife. Haven't you thought of it yet? Her cut marks were in the shape of a spider on her stomach? The same shape as the one on my face when I do this."

The man had transformed into his monster form and I heard Robin's gun drop onto the ground as well as herself. "You killed my sister? So you're the dangerous Spider Cutter that's been on Ohio's wanted list?" She had seemed really down and I heard the monster throw the woman he was holding on the ground who began yelling in horror as the black and white spider monster hovered over her.

"Yes and no. I'm what you call a Phantom. I'm a being that lives inside humans who have become Gates, or people who have a strong enough mana and hope manifesting in themselves. My host was indeed this Spider Cutter, and when he died he gave birth to me a newer and deadlier killer. I've already in the past six month's I've killed eighteen people and have turned them into Phantoms. You and this woman will make that number go up to twenty." I quickly jumped out of my cover and ran towards the monster and jumped up in the air kicking it backwards a bit.

"I'm sorry but you're not going to meet you quota today monster. Robin go and get the hostage I'll deal with him." Robin got up and didn't even say a word to me.

She ran to get the woman on her feet and I summoned out my swordgun and shot bullets the spider faced freak trying to harm her, "All eight sets of eyes on me freak. If you want them then you know you have to go through me." I scanned my ring over my belt.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

My black hand belt extended out showing the nice and glossy grey belt. I flipped the levers to turn my spell hand to my transformation hand.

 **"** **Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform."**

I put the Flame ring on my other hand and pushed the faceguard down, "Transform." I said as I scanned the ring over the singing belt.

 **"** **Flame, please. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

I put my legs together and raised my arm up in the air as a big red circle appeared and slowly fazed through my body as it transformed me into Wizard. "Now, it's showtime." The monster shot webbing out at me and I switched my weapon from gun mode to sword mode. I swatted the webbing to the side but ended up having it wrapped up in the webs. I tried to hold on but the monster began swinging me around the rooftops in a circle, "Not good." I thought as I tried to figure out a way to get out of the situation.

The monster lifted me up high into the air and then down onto the roof leaving cracks around me. I had the wind knocked out of me as I lay on the ground trying to find a way to breathe again. "Damn I can't move while my body is in shock." I thought to myself again. I was starting to panic as air wasn't going into my lungs and when I started observing my surroundings the monster was standing over me.

"You're not as strong as I thought you were. How is it that someone like you defeated Minotaurous and three other Phantoms as well as dozens of Ghouls like this, hmm?" The spider said as he raised his foot and slammed it on my chest causing more problems with trying to breathe. I thought I was going to pass out and my vision began to fade a bit.

The Spider Phantom was adding pressure on my chest and I thought my ribcage was going to break, "If he breaks my ribcage good luck saving anybody." I grabbed his foot trying to move it off of me but was having no luck.

"Travis! Garuda and Kraken save him!" I heard Karina say. I looked down past my feet to see Karina climbing the escape ladder with my small familiars rushing the Phantom.

With their small bodies they were able to cause the Spider Phantom to stumble off of me until he swung at them knocking them onto the ground. "Damn Karina's here and the situation is not looking good." I forced myself to get up and grab my sword that was some distance from me and put the sword in gun mode. I pulled back on the black thumb.

 **"** **C'mon shoot and shake hands! C'mon shoot and shake hands!**

 **Flame, Shooting Strike. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

The gun said after scanning my Flame ring. I allowed a huge amount of fire to gather at the end of my gun and then pulled the trigger. I watched as the Phantom shot out a lot of webbing to cover itself as a barrier from my blast. While it was doing this I reverted Garuda and Kraken back to their spell rings, reverted back to my human form and took Karina off the roof. I looked at the window in front of us and noticed it was open, assuming that Karina opened it we went through and made our way out of the building. I used my Connect ring to bring my bike out and had both of us get on as I rode us back to the Antique shop.

"Karina did you see any police or anyone when you got here? There should've been a police officer and an injured old lady." I asked her. "No I haven't when I got here the group of people started disbanding and the injured woman was taken to the hospital. I climbed the fire escape until I got to the top." She said. Now I knew that Robin took the injured lady through that window and thanks to her we were able to get out alive because of it. We finally got home and when we did, I fell to the ground clutching my chest as my wounds started to get a lot worse. "I think my adrenaline kicked in during that fight and now it's leaving so I'm feeling everything at once." I thought.

Karina tried to lift my body off the ground and move me inside but nothing was helping as I kept screaming in pain. She ran inside and got DJ who came out and saw me in pain. He picked up my body and hurried us inside and lay my body down on my bed.

"Karina go out to my office where I make the rings and under my desk is a first aid kit. Bring me the kit and in my top drawer is strong pain relief medicine grab that as well." He said. She acknowledged and ran out the room.

"What was Karina doing outside without my approval? She knows…Ugh…not to go out without protection…" I was in a lot of pain just trying to talk. DJ told me to not talk and asked me to point where the pain is and I pointed at my chest. He lifted my shirt up and placed his ear on my chest. He started feeling around ribcage and watched my reactions as he noticed a lot of dark bruises forming as well as some minor cuts on my body.

Karina came back with the first aid kit, "I need you to go get a bucket of ice from the kitchen and a bucket of water. Get me a clean white cloth from the bathroom and a cup for water. Travis might have a fractured ribcage if it's not broken." Karina rushed out of the room as I was agonizing in pain from the impacts on my chest.

"The phantom was a spider. It slammed me on my back…ARGH!" I said screaming a bit in pain as if my lungs were hurting. DJ kept telling me to stop talking so I took out my phone and put in text format these words "Officer Robin Meade is a Gate. We need her to stay here until we defeat the Phantom." "That's not going to happen right now until your wound's have healed. You might have a fractured ribcage if not a broken one. Either way you're not going to heal or be able to do much fighting for a good solid month at least." He said well assured. I didn't like the sound of that.

"I can't wait a month. In a month Robin will become a Phantom and more people will die. I can't just let that happ—AGH!" I screamed. Karina finally came into the room and DJ took some of the band aids and placed them over my cuts, then he took a couple of pain pills and had me swallow them with some water. This caused a bit of pain for me to swallow. DJ then grabbed some of the ice and placed them in a bag that was in the kit. It was a big zip lock bag and filled it with a bunch of ice. He sealed the bag and put it on my chest then put my shirt back over my skin.

"You need to rest a bit, we have to let the swelling that could happen go down and the bruise to go away before I can make one hundred percent sure what's wrong. For now just rest, the bucket of water is something to drink because the water will help you in case you get thirsty. You need to lie here on the bed and I'll check back every few hours to replace the ice in your bag. We will find out by tomorrow what our next move in getting you better will be. The pain pill should kick in soon and they will make you sleepy. Resting right now is going to be the best thing we can do for you. If you need anything let me know by calling out to us."

DJ walked out of the room but Karina stayed by to keep an eye on me. I felt for once in a long time, disgusted with myself as I let the phantom immobilize me, "What good am I now if I can't protect Robin. That Phantom is still on the loose and I can't do anything being bedridden. I don't even know when it will strike again and it's already done it twice today." I couldn't think anymore as the pills started taking effect in my body and the last thing I remembered doing before falling asleep was reaching out to Karina's hand as she sat next to my bed with a worry look on her face.


	5. Land Style

A couple of days had gone by without any notice or sign of the Spider Phantom. Karina had been using the glass ball in the main room to keep an eye on him and I had Garuda and Kraken looking all over town but nothing. My pain was just now starting to subside but it was still hard to get out of bed. It was morning about ten after eleven and DJ brought in breakfast to my bed, "You think you'll be able to sit up and eat without any problems today?" He said with a carefree smile. I got up and put my back against the wall of my bed as I began to eat some of the food he made. I drank some of the orange juice and when I was done I put everything back on the plate.

"The pain in my chest is starting to go away a bit. The ice kept it from swelling but I think when I feel a bit better I should check into the hospital and make sure it's not fractured ribs." I still remembered the weight placed on my chest from Arachnid's stomping, "If any human being went through that they would've had their chest caved in. My power must've kept me alive, his foot stomping me felt like he weighed a ton."

I got myself up out of bed and noticed that DJ had left the room. I wanted to try and walk a bit. Immediately leaving my bedroom I heard a commotion in the living room. I quickly walked to the source of the commotion as I saw three men in black suits standing in front of the door while a shorter male was standing in front of them looking at DJ.

"Where is police officer Robin Meade at DJ? Whenever something weird like this happens your always if not, most of the time in the mix up." This guy said pushing his glasses up his face. Hiding by the wall I decided to show myself, "He has nothing to do with it but if you want to talk to someone you can talk to me." I said walking into the room all the way up to the officer.

He pushed his glasses back up to his face, "Well son you look like you're having a hard time standing there. Care to explain why that is?" He said as he stared deep into my eyes.

"I think you've overstayed your welcome in our home. If no one is in any trouble than I suggest you leave." I said as I walked past him.

"I wouldn't be quick to get rid of me my friend." I heard him say. He threw something down on the table in front of him and slowly turned to face me, "Did you honestly think that when you transformed in the bank that all of the security cameras were malfunctioning?" I stopped in my tracks and walked over to the coffee table.

"Impossible." I said surprised. I picked up the photos in shock.

"You see this briefcase I'm holding and its contents I'm willing to give to you but I want to know exactly what it is you are doing. If I don't like your answer I will easily have you guys arrested for destruction of governmental property, vigilantism, and escaping from jail without consent. Yes Travis I know all too well that you were detained after the bank incident. How you got out I'm not sure of but be warned you are looking at felonious charges and good part of life in a federal prison. Your friends here will also share that same punishment, except they will have being an accomplice on their charges so I'm not one to mess around when one of my officers comes up missing." Anger started building up in my chest.

"He's seriously going to be blackmailing us?" I didn't like the situation at all and before I had a chance to give him any type of warning for threatening us he put the briefcase down and opened it up showing two magical stones.

One was a bright yellow and the other a deep blue, "I have done background research on you as well DJ. Four years ago you made rings based off an orange and purple magical stone. Afterwards you turned this run down store into an antique store as well as your foundation for computer repair. You are also close friends with a lot of the people that help run the city which is another reason why this place is still open as it sees less business. I was able to put two and two together and to make sure my calculations were true I came here to find that Travis has been stationed here when he originally lived on the other side of town. So I think it will be wise to consider my offer otherwise everyone here will be arrested right now." The man said with a warning in his voice.

"I accept your offer." DJ said. I quickly turned around staring at him surprised,

"Why?! Why should we help this dirty and corrupt cop out? All we've been doing is protecting the people and he wants to walk up in here and threaten us to do something because he and his entire task force is too weak to even do something themselves?" I was really pissed but DJ put his hand on my shoulders and had me calm down.

He then stood face to face with the man, "I will make these into rings but don't think that you will be able to use them. Travis is the only person right now who is capable, so if you think you'll be leaving with them, you will want to think again sir. Also, if you ever come back to my shop without a warrant or any notification from the city judge or other governmental official, I am inclined to kick you guys out of my place. I do not take threats lightly and I will have you know that if you ever come in here and threaten us again I will have you permanently removed from office. I'm also close friends with your higher ups as well and since you guys stand to protect and serve the people, a cop such as yourself no matter what position you're in, should never stoop so low as to blackmail citizens and if you don't believe me I already have a voice recording device set up in this room that recorded the entire conversation. All I have to do is walk straight up to Marcus Waller and hand him the tape. So I would keep in mind what you're next choice of words and future actions will be before you decide to stumble into my home and threaten me as well as this city's only hope. With that can you please get the hell out of my house?"

The man had a really mad look on his face, "We'll be keeping a close eye on you three." He said as he pushed his glasses back up on his face then turned around and walked out the door.

DJ took the briefcase and walked into his office to get to work, "I'll have these rings done by tomorrow, Travis go back to your room and get some rest." I slowly walked back to my room in awe at how awesome DJ was keeping his cool and fending off that jerk.

"He was able to keep his head on his shoulders while under all the pressure. I wonder if I could ever do that." I thought to myself as I lay my head back down on my pillow and fell asleep. Sometime had passed and I think it was midnight as I heard something loud came from the living room. I quickly got up and made my way to the living room as I saw one of the bodyguards for Glasses Guy cut up and blood all over the his clothes, "DJ GET OUT HERE!" I yelled as DJ was out in the living room in a flash. He quickly picked up the man and placed him on the couch Karina was out in the living room as well,

"Karina in my office under my desk, is the first aid kit." Karina quickly ran into the office as she grabbed the kit. The man was looking up at me with one eye open as the other was shut forming a bruise around it.

"Abandoned…Sandridge farm." He said lifting a piece of paper to me. I grabbed the letter with a warning written out, " _Ring Bearing Magician, meet us at the abandoned Sandridge Farm out in the country. I wouldn't want you to miss Robin's transformation into a Phantom."_ I quickly got up and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going Travis?! Your wounds still haven't healed." Karina said as she hugged me from behind.

"I have to save Robin, if I don't she'll die." I said back to her. Karina was holding onto me tight.

"You can't fight in your condition! Please don't go I don't want to lose another person I love again. I can't deal with that again." She was starting to cry and then she released me.

I turned around to see DJ holding something in his hands, "I agree with her as well Travis, but you have been given a power to fight against these monsters and as that officer has quickly realized his team aren't strong enough to stand up to them. Robin will die if we don't do something, but if you think you are ready then at least take these rings." I opened my hand up as a ring that was yellow with a face plate and another ring that looked like a spell ring was placed in them. Karina was still crying and I knew that I may not come back from this but I couldn't let her know that.

"Karina, I'll be back in one piece. Keep an eye on me with your crystal ball okay?" I grabbed her hand with the spell ring and placed it over my belt.

 **"** **Please, please."**

My black hand said. My mana began emanating from me as it transferred over to her body, "Please come back to us Travis." She said as she gave me one final hug. I took my cross necklace off and put it on her, "I'm going now, please hold onto this for me. It's the thing that gives me hope to live throughout the day. It's something very special to me." I grabbed my black trench coat and walked out into the foggy night. I hopped on my motorcycle and drove off to save Robin.

It didn't take long to get to the farm and once I was there I saw webbing all over the outside of the barn, "I know where Robin is being held at then." I thought. I got off my bike and walked into the barn.

"Was wondering how long it would take for you to show up Mage." At the far end of the barn was a giant web with Robin's body from neck to toe wrapped in web and the Phantom in human form walking on it.

"I'm taking it if I ask for you to let her go I'd have to do it by beating the hell out of you?" I asked the man. He jumped down from his web.

"Well that's one way to go about it." He said before transforming into his monster form. He then pointed at the front door as I saw an old woman hanging on the wall and there was some webbing surrounding her as well, "I had some unwanted police officers who had found me out. I willingly allowed one of them to leave but this one has a strong bond to my victim. I think she is her mentor in the police force. Imagine what would happen if I decided to snap her neck in front of Robin hmm?" I was trying to keep my cool as I knew that Arachnid was trying to get under my skin.

"I know exactly what he is doing. If I go straight and save Robin he'll kill her mentor which will cause Robin to go in instant despair. But if I save her mentor, I'll lose Robin. So my only way of saving the both of them is by defeating him." I thought to myself.

I scanned my ring over my belt.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

My glossy grey belt appeared and flipped the levers.

 **"** **Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform!"**

The belt said on a loop, "I'm going to wipe you from existence Arachnid. Today will not go the way you want it." I said. I lifted my Flame ring and pushed the faceguard down, "Transform." I said. I scanned the ring over the singing belt.

 **"** **Flame, please. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

A red circle appeared in front of me and ran right through it with my swordgun at the ready. "Now, it's showtime." I ran right up to Arachnid and performed a high cut with my blade that he dodged by grabbing the blade. He then took his hand and punched me in the chest causing me to fly backwards. I landed on the ground as the pain in my chest began to hurt a lot more. I tried to ignore the pain and got back up.

Arachnid shot out balls of webbing at me and I used my sword to slice them in half. The last one I sliced at revealed two giant balls of webbing coming at me with one going for the head and the other my feet. I jumped sideways in between the webs and then I opened the hand on my sword.

 **"** **C'mon slash and shake hands! C'mon slash and shake hands!**

 **Flame, please. Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

I pulled the trigger on my sword that was encasing itself in flames and sliced down as a fiery line ejected itself from my sword. It went straight towards Arachnid but then encased himself in a giant web that took the attack. I quickly turned my sword into a gun and fired bullets but nothing was penetrating the webbing, "As long as I stay in this web you can't touch me!" He said laughing. I grabbed for my final attack ring, "We'll see about that freak." I slid my ring on and flipped the levers of my belt.

 **"** **Very nice! Kick Strike! The Best!"**

I jumped into the air as red circles formed a row towards the webbing and I passed through them as I made contact with the web. When I did Arachnid took the web and had it form around my legs and then swung me around through one of the pillars that kept the barn standing. I fell to the ground as Arachnid walked over to me while I was screaming in pain from my chest in extreme pain. He then took one foot and stomped on my chest again, "GYAHHHHHHH!" I yelled in the barn.

"It hurts doesn't it? Did you think I was going to just stay in my webbing forever? I wanted you to attack me with your strongest spell so I could trap you once again and finish you off. My webbing is extremely durable and hard to destroy. You'll need to have super strength just to rip it away. Now that your legs are bound together I guess you can watch as I make Robin give into her despair."

Arachnid shot out some webbing from his fingers as he grabbed Robin's mentor and then Robin. He placed them right in front of us and took his foot off me. Robin woke up to see her mentor right in front of her. "Oh my god NO! Sarah wake up! Wake up! No please not her!" Robin was terrified as she couldn't move and Arachnid picked up her body by the throat.

"About time you woke up princess, just in time for me to kill your mentor." I watched as Arachnid had woken this girl named Sarah up and she began screaming in fear. "Sarah! Let her go you monster! Take me instead! Don't hurt her take me!" She said crying on the ground. Arachnid took his hands and placed them around her neck and I slowly reached to my chain that held my rings to grab my new ring, "No! Leave her alone! Please! I'll do anything you want! Just let her go! Just let my mother go!" In a second after screaming and begging for her mother's release, the atmosphere had changed in the room and I looked over to see Sarah's hand that were fighting against Arachnid's drop to her side. Robin immediately began to have purple cracks form all over her body and I slid my new ring on and flipped the levers.

 **"** **Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform.**

 **Land, please. Earth! Earth! Earth!"**

A yellow spell circle formed around my body and every armor that was red was now yellow and the shape of my mask went from an abstract red shape to a square yellow. I heard Dragon's voice in my head, "Congratulations Travis you've obtained the strongest base form of the four. You can use this power to pull that webbing off." I reached down and grabbed the webbing off.

"For some reason the pain in my chest has subsided? I'm not going to question it I need to get to Robin now!" I was struggling a bit but I was able to rip the webs off and Arachnid took notice.

"A NEW FORM?!" He said surprised.

He was even more shocked that I was able to pull the webbing off. I glanced over to see that Sarah's finger moved an inch, "She's still alive?!" I said surprised. Arachnid saw this as well and ran over to her with his foot raised above her head and I ran straight at him. He casted a wall of webbing and I ran not just right into it, but through it and grabbed Arachnid tackling him into the ground. We both rolled over on the ground and I quickly got up with my hands stretched out towards him.

"I think my fighting style has changed as well. It feels like I can do something different with this form than I could in Flame." I realized. Arachnid shot out streams of webbing at me and I pulled out my Defend ring and quickly scanned it.

 **"** **Defend, please!"**

The ground beneath me rose up and put a wall that took the impact. I then raised one hand back and punched the wall as it began going across the battlefield from us. It hit Arachnid on his back, "How did you get so strong? It doesn't make any sense! I should've broken your ribcage or damaged it enough that you shouldn't be able to fight like this!" He said. I took out my new ring which had a picture of a small dragon head at the bottom of the ring and a bigger one above it.

"If I can still breathe I can still fight. I will not allow you to have your way with the lives you have harmed today." I flipped my levers over and scanned the ring.

 **"** **Big, please."**

A yellow spell circle appeared in front of me and I took out my swordgun and turned it into gun mode then opened the hand.

 **"** **C'mon shoot and shake hands! C'mon shoot and shake hands!**

 **Land, please! Earth! Earth! Earth! Earth!"**

The ground below us began forming into a ball at the tip of my gun and Arachnid encased himself in the webbing, "Now the finale!" I pulled the trigger as the blast went through the spell circle causing the rock size ground turn into a boulder. The boulder hit not only the webbing but went right through it and then I heard Arachnid scream before an explosion happened. Once the fire and cloud of smoke disappeared, Arachnid was gone as he died in the blast.

I quickly ran to check on Sarah as I put my fingers on her neck to check a pulse, "She's still alive. That's remarkable, but now I need to go stop Robin from becoming a new phantom."

I quickly ran to Robin's side as her cracks were almost every inch of her body. "I can't do it anymore. I was a fool to think that I'd be able to protect everyone, and because of my selfish thought I lost my mom, the only person who support me through my days at the academy. Now she's gone and it's all my fault." She said with tears going down her face. I picked up her hand and slid the Engage ring on it.

"Your mom is alive she is breathing. You weren't being selfish at all, and when you have lost all hope Robin, know that I will be there to give you some of mine. I will be your final hope." I flipped my switches over from spell to transformation, to back to spell then scanned the ring over it.

 **"** **Engage, please."**

A red circle hovered over Robin's body and I jumped inside it as I began to fall through the purple and red backgrounds until I reached Robin's Underworld. Once inside I looked around to see everything in black and grey and then turned around to see Robin shaking hands with someone as she was given her certificate and standing next to her was her mom. Robin turned around to hug her mom and once they began to hug, a giant purple crack appeared on them and a monster that was the size of a building ripped through the cracks. It had the head of what looked like a manta ray, the body of a dragon, and six legs like that constantly touches its stomach and then stretch's out and a long pointy tail.

The monster saw me and I grabbed my ring to summon Dragon and flipped my levers back and forth.

 **"** **Lupacchi Magic Touch to Go!**

 **Dragorise, please!"**

I shot out a circle into the sky where i noticed that I reverted back to my Flame Style. "I guess in people's Underworld's I'm only able to be in Flame." I thought to myself. I quickly replaced my spell ring and pulled out Connect as Dragon appeared out of the circle and began fighting the monster in the sky.

 **"** **Connect, please."**

Another spell circle appeared next to me and I reached my hand into it as I pulled out my motorbike the Machine Winger. I got onto it and rode down the street, "Dragon! Come we will finish it together!" I yelled at my Phantom. He swooped down to me and picked me up on my bike. Once I was on his back my bike did something new where it split in two and folded out like wings that connected themselves onto Dragon, "This is new indeed. At least I don't have to stay in just one place anymore." I was still able to control Dragon through my bike's steering wheel and we began dodging in mid-air all of the purple balls of lighting being shot out by the monster's mouth. Dragon finally sunk his claws into the monster's skin and began ripping it apart and I looked up to see the monster bringing it's mouth over my head getting ready to chew me to bits. I took out my swordgun, put it in gun mode, and then scanned my Big ring over the singing hand.

 **"** **Big, Shooting Strike!"**

A spell circle appeared in front of my gun and when I pulled the trigger, a normal size bullet became half the size of the monster's mouth. The bullet went inside the mouth and out the back of the monster's head. The monster fell backwards and I pulled out my Kick Strike ring.

Dragon glided backwards and I scanned the ring, "Now the finale!" I flipped the levers and scanned the ring.

 **"** **Very Nice! Kick Strike! The Best!"**

My belt said and I watched as Dragon became encased in fire. I floated into the air and then kicked Dragon and we both soared down until we collided with the monster. When we did we went right through it and an explosion occurred. All of the cracks in Robin's Underworld vanished instantaneously and Dragon looked at me, "You have a new form and now have access to more of my power. Keep up the good work Wizard." With that a spell circle appeared in front of me and I walked through it as I appeared next to Robin who was just starting to come around. "MOM!" She said as she ran over to her mother's body. Her mom began waking up coughing and gasping for air. She hugged her mother and then saw a ring on her finger, "What's this?" She said.

When she turned around to look at me I reverted back to my human self, "Your new hope." I said to her. I walked over to her to help them up but not until the pain in my chest began to hurt and my vision went black as I fell onto the ground.


	6. I Want To be a Wizard!

It has been about two weeks since my fight with Arachnid. I had blacked out from using up, once again, too much mana and the pain in my chest. I was admitted to a hospital and given some really strong antibiotics. I stay at the hospital for the next couple of days and then was discharged. I was lucky too because Phantom attacks had stopped as well. After my first week of nothing but sleeping and resting, my chest was fully recovered. The doctors were thinking at least two weeks and didn't know what was going on. I know it was a Saturday getting close to summer now, the month was March 30th and I was back on the hunt for Phantoms.

Karina greeted me as usual when I get up from sleeping, "I hope you'll be safe this time around. Please come back safely." She said worried.

Right when I grabbed my black trench coat DJ came running up to me, "Sorry Travis I've been a bit lazy lately on getting these rings done." He handed me what looked like a new transformation ring that was a blue pointed shape with a face guard and a ring that had a dragon on it with a giant star in its eye. "Ooh. Let me try this out." I slid the ring on my finger and placed it over my black hand belt.

 **"** **Light, please."**

I casted the spell out towards the glass windows and the entire room that had random shadows everywhere from the objects in it, lit up as well as the shadows having disappeared. "I could blind my enemies with this. Thanks DJ." I was even more pumped now to try out my new rings on some Phantoms and quickly headed out. I walked out of the shop and towards my bike, "Grounds for Thought first, can't hunt Phantoms on an empty stomach." I started up my bike and rode down all excited for how my day started.

I walked into Grounds and up to the glass case where all the donuts were as Rachel placed a donut in front of me, "Travis! I'm so happy to hear your discharge from the hospital! You gave me the inspiration to make this donut for everyone: The Recovery Donut!" She said happily. I looked at the donut which was a plain sugar with white frosting, and a red frosting lay out in the shape of a cross. I then looked over to the glass case and saw a bigger than usual Plain Sugar, "I'd like that one." I said.

I watched as Rachel stumbled a bit and then put the donut down, "Oh I wish you'd try out the new donuts I made. Everyone else likes them and they normally get their originals." Rachel said sadly. She gave me the big donut I wanted and slid the Recovery Donut in a separate bag. "So tell me Travis, how's living with that Mexican girl going for you? Have you two gotten close?" She asked while staring at me with that gleam in her eyes.

"We're just friends Rachel." I said blushing. Rachel began giggling as she took my payment for the donut, "Of course you are honey. Well try and bring her out here sometime if she's not busy I'd like to meet her." I thanked Rachel for her service and walked out the back to my bike.

"Since I'm getting more powerful maybe I should bring Karina out more. I know I wouldn't want to be all cooped up in a building the rest of my life." I began eating my donut and then I eyed the Recovery Donut Rachel made, "Maybe I should try this later. I mean she does take the time out of her day to make these." I put the bag into my pocket and began riding around town.

(Shawn's Viewpoint)

I just walked out of the Wood County Library having the time of my life. I was really excited to have placed my order to a book called Alakazam the First Magician. "Oh yea! In about a couple of days my childhood book will be coming in and I'll get to enjoy reading it all over again! Today just can't get any better than this! Nothing can stop me now!" I started skipping down the street away from the downtown area as I headed to the city park. I kept skipping until I saw a group of kids run across the street and one of them tripped and fell on the road. I darted out into the street as a driver had just made a turn and was about to hit the kid. Once I got to the kid I scooped him up and missed from getting hit by the car just in time.

The driver honked his horn loudly and made the middle finger at us as he drove by. I placed the kid on the sidewalk and he had scraped his kneecap. His friends came back from the other side of the street to check up on him, "Mike are you alright?" All of his friend began saying. Mike was crying a bit from the pain and holding his kneecap, "My leg hurts." Mike said crying. I took out a band aid from my bag and placed it on his cut.

"Okay Mike you're going to be alright man the pain will go away on its own." I said with a smile on my face. He was trying to hold back his tears, "I wish the pain would go away right now, it hurts so much." He said. I had an idea and I lifted my finger up in front of his face, "I have an idea. It will help stop the pain, I'll cast a spell on your knee that will make the pain leave a lot quicker." All of the kids around me including Mike were curious to see this spell. I waved my finger around with my eyes closed and then pointed at his knee, "Chichin Pui Pui." I said as mystical as I could. All of the little kids began laughing a lot and Mike stood up brushing his shorts off.

"Magic doesn't exist mister." He said and then ran off with his other friends back across the street.

I was kind of down at the fact that I didn't even get a thank you for saving his life, "Magic is real. I wish people would understand that, I wish I could show people that magic is real. If people saw me using magic I could make them believe and I wouldn't be made fun of. People would actually start taking me seriously." I was really down but that wasn't going to stop me from going to the park. I still had a ways to the city park and it was late into the afternoon, "I'm not going to let this get me down. I believe that magic is real and if no one else does then that's their opinion. I'm going to the park and enjoy the swing set where I sat as a kid reading Alakazam. It will be great and I know I'll have fun like I always do." I started off in a run from where I was and I didn't stop until I got to the park.

I finally reached the park and I saw the same group of kids over at the swings and I ran over to the last one that was available. The kids began laughing at me, "What's a grownup doing on a swing? That's really weird." They kept laughing at me and I started to feel kind of uncomfortable. "I'm only sixteen I am still young." I said to the kids. This didn't help my case, "Don't you have any friends to hang out with then?" Mike had said to me. His question shut me down and I ended up getting off the swing and walked over to the benches and sat on them. I started to feel really hurt inside, I couldn't tell the kids that I had no friends that everyone left because of my obsession with magic being real and the fact that no one wanted to believe me.

"It'd be nice if I had some friends. I used to have lots of them growing up, but once I started high school no one would give me the time of day. I wish that one day I'll find that one friend who will believe with me that magic is real and stay by my side." I heard a loud scream from the kids and saw as people began to evacuate the giant park as group of monsters began walking up to the kids terrorizing them. The kids tried to run away but another monster that looked different from the others appeared, this guy had flames running all over his body his face had this black gap in it with a mouth of what looked like some beast for a face, and a silver chest plate connected to silver plates on his shoulders.

He walked up to Mike and pointed his blade to him, "You will give into your despair and die kid. I will do so by killing your friends first and then when you are all alone you'll die with them." The kids had their hands over their face screaming and crying and I ran up to the monster and elbowed him in the side causing him to fall onto the ground.

"Leave them alone! What are you doing picking on little kids, monster!" I yelled at him. The kids were terrified and I looked for an opening to have them escape.

"Go that way kids and keep running! Don't look back!" I said. I picked up each kid off the ground and had them run for it. One of the monsters that was grey with bright colored scars on them started running towards them and I stopped them by tackling them. I ended up grabbing one of them by the waist trying to stop it from going after the kids but to my dumb luck I was kicked down onto the ground. I tried to get back up but was getting hit by the end of their weapons until the monster with fire around him walked up to me. The grey monsters stopped kicking me and I was then stomped on by the fiery freak, "You have some resolve and courage for thinking you'll stand up to all of us alone. But your nothing like the Ring-Bearing Magician and as such you will die." I looked at him with my hands shaking knowing that I've gone too far over my limitations. He held his sword at my throat and then raised it, and right before he delivered the killing blow; he stumbled backwards.

(Travis's Viewpoint)

I zoomed in on the bike and summoned out my Swordgun. I shot multiple bullets at the Ghouls and the monster in front of me as they all started to back off from the boy on the ground. "Well if it isn't the Ring-Bearing Magician." The monster said to me. I got off my bike and summoned out my belt.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

"You know I really wish you guys would stop saying that. Do you know how old that gets hearing that over and over again, I mean I do have a name you know?" I slid my Flame ring on my finger, "Transform." I said and flipped the levers on my belt.

 **"** **Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform."**

 **"** **Flame, please."**

I casted out the spell circle to in front of me and ran right through it with my sword in my hand. "Now, it's showtime." I said. The ghouls in front of me began running towards me with spears held high. The first one took its spear and tried thrusting it at me which I knocked the tip away with my sword and then sliced him across the chest. Two others tried to go for my head and feet with my reaction being to jump sideways. I sliced the one that was trying to go for my head and kicked the one for my feet causing both of them to fall to the ground. Then two more started to come at me and one of them knocked my sword out of my hand. The second one tried a pierce attack at my lower chest and I kicked his blade out of its hand. I then ran at it giving it a three hit combo landing a blow in its gut and then two across its face before wrapping it up with a harsh kick in the stomach. Now every Ghoul was lying on the ground except the one who knocked my sword to the ground. This one came up behind me and put me in a choke hold and I kept elbow punching him in the stomach until he let go.

The creature wasn't letting go and we finally got to where my sword was lying on the ground. So I took my foot and placed it in between the Ghouls legs causing us to trip and fall over. When we did I broke free from its hold and picked up my sword. I now had all of the Ghouls lined up in a row and pulled back on the black thumb of my sword.

 **"** **C'mon Slash and Shake Hands! "**

 **"** **Flame, Shooting Strike. Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

I pressed on the trigger and a red fiery line left my blade when I sliced down that ran across the Ghouls and collided with the one that was finally standing up from falling. All five of them exploded after getting hit. I turned around and picked up the person lying on the ground, "I saw what you did for those kids. Good work man, now leave and I'll take care of this guy." I said.

When I walked in front of the kid to face the monster I immediately felt something wrap itself around my waist, "I KNEW IT! Magic is real! I'm actually seeing a real live magician! Now no one can laugh at me anymore!" The kid was going on and on. I was trying to get him off of me but he was just not letting go. I saw the monster summoning out a ball of fire.

"This is a perfect chance for me to escape. My name is Hellhound, we will cross paths again Wizard." Hellhound said. He shot out a ball of fire towards us and I grabbed my cape and folded it around us to shield us from the blast. When I looked back the monster was gone and I reverted back to my human form.

The nuisance that was clinging to me ended up falling on to the ground after I reverted back, "Ouch!" he said. I started to walk away kind of irritated that I couldn't stop the phantom. When I started to walk away I heard the kid say something to me and when I turned around I saw a random Ghoul come up to attack me and before I had a chance to defend myself, this kid jumped in the way. When he did he lifted a finger at the monster, "Chinchin Pui Pui!" He said.

A torrent of fire erupted from his fingers and hit the monster causing it to be encased in fire and then I grabbed the kid as it exploded. When I looked back at the Ghoul, it was gone.

"What the hell was that? That wasn't any kind of magic that I use." I thought to myself. I looked back at the kid who was staring at his finger with an amazed look on his face.

"I did it. I actually did it. I CASTED MY FIRST SPELL! I did it!" The kid said all excited. The kid began to run off out of the park happy with what he could do and then I heard a motorbike being revved and when I looked at the sound of where it was coming from I saw Hellhound riding towards the kid with his blade at ready to kill.

"Oh shit!" I said. I quickly transformed back into Wizard: Flame Style and got on my bike shooting bullets at Hellhound before he could harm him. Hellhound knew he couldn't do anything with me around and biked out the park and I followed him in chase.

We began dodging cars and traffic until we got out on an open road and were riding side by side each other. He took out his blade and began swinging it at me. I blocked all his attacks with mine and then our swords finally clashed and it became a battle at who was stronger.

"Don't think you'll win this one Wizard! That boy will die and give birth to a new Phantom and you can't save him like you did the others! I'm not as merciful as Minotauros and Arachnid. I will actually kill my Gates!" I then realized the truth behind his words and decided to end this fight. Hellhound took his motorbike and rammed it into mine causing me almost get off the road and into a big ditch. I hit my brakes stopping my bike right on the edge and he kept riding ahead. Up ahead was an abandoned factory that recently closed down and I decided to end it there. I sped up trying to catch him but his bike was faster than mine so I summoned out my swordgun. I turned the sword into gun mode and pulled back on the black thumb and scanned my ring.

 **"** **Flame, Shooting Strike. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

I pressed the trigger and shot out a ball of fire that hit the back of Hellhound's bike causing it to be engulfed in flames. He hit one of the barricades to the factory and flipped himself forward along with his bike through one of the windows and seconds after an explosion was made. I came to a quick halt with my bike and reverted back to my human state.

"Can't kill anyone if you're dead Hellhound." I said. I turned my bike around and drove down the country road back to Bowling Green and tried to find the weird random kid and he was nowhere to be seen around town. I took this moment to go back to Grounds for Thought for something to eat, "Something about this whole thing is weird and that fight was way too easy." I pondered on that thought as I went to grab some more donuts to take home to everyone.

My phone began ringing when I got off my bike and I quickly answered it, "Hello this is Travis." I responded back.

The person who called me was Karina, "Hey bro are you in the mood for Chinese? I placed an order at the local Bamboo Garden and they said they are a bit backed up with deliveries so I was wondering if you could drop by and pick it up." I told her I didn't have a problem with this and said I'd be home in a bit. I hung up the phone and started thinking about Karina.

"You know I really should take her out and about. Sometime this week I'll do that, she's a girl so maybe she likes shopping?" I thought to myself. I hopped back onto my bike but not before I had the feeling that someone was watching me. I looked around me and didn't see anyone and when I reached for my helmet, I noticed a pair of hands placed on them. I looked up to see the kid I saved earlier.

"Ah it's the guy who's face was near my butt" I said randomly. The guy didn't even respond back to me on what I said and just had these wide opened eyes. His black hair was kind of long and he was wearing a lot of bright clothing like the one you see the younger kids wearing these days. His sense of fashion really needed to be upgraded. He brought his face closer to me until his nose about touched mine, "Can I help you?" I said feeling extremely awkward.

He stared into my eyes deeply, "Master!" he said high pitched. I slowly got off my bike put my helmet down and he just kept his eyes on me the whole time, "I'm not getting into any weird Slave/Master relationships just because I saved someone's life." I thought to myself. I took one step to the left and this kid mirrored my movements.

He had this really creepy smile and stare going on and I started to think fast, "I hope to God I'm not going to start running down the street trying to lose this guy." I said in my head. I took one step back and this kid began to open his arms in preparation for a hug, "Oh yeah fuck this shit." I said aloud. Then my running from this kid began.

I immediately began to book it down the street behind me running as fast as I could, "Master! Master! Master! Wait I want to be your apprentice! Come back Master!" He was saying over and over again. I turned a corner and took cover behind one of the dumpsters behind the building and peeked around the corner to see the kid running right past me not noticing me hiding. "Masteeerrrrrr!" He said loudly until he was out of sight. After a couple of minutes I emerged from my hiding place and walked back to my bike thinking that I wasn't seeing him again. "I'm so glad I got rid of that Phantom. I'd rather deal with a Phantom then him right no-." I turned the corner to see him standing right in front of me with that same smile on his face, "I found you Master!" He said happily. He immediately began to hug around my waist and I tried to break free of him but he was not letting go. Some people saw me struggling with him, "Hey get a room you love birds." Some old lady said out to me. I was really starting to hit my peak on how much I could handle and I was trying my best to keep my frustration down, "OKAY OKAY ENOUGH!" I yelled. The kid finally let go and still had a smile on his face.

"What do you want from me?" I said sternly.

The kid stuck out his hand as if he was introducing himself, "My name is Shawn Newberry, and I want you to take me under your wing as an apprentice." He said. I shook his hand, "Nice to meet you." I told him. I also told him straight out that I wasn't taking in any apprentices.

That didn't register with him I guess, "Why not? I can cast fire, I'm hardworking, and I'd really like to learn how to use magic. My entire life has been devoted to learning the arts of magic. Magic is everything, magic is life to me. I want to be a wizard someday and I don't care what I have to do to become one." That last sentence Shawn said then hit me across the face really hard.

"Stay away from me." I said lowly. Shawn apparently didn't hear me and just kept going on about how great magic is. "Magic is inspiring to me, it's always been something mystical and unknowing and that is what makes it great. I mean I totally saved you from that thing that attacked out of nowhere. If you take me under your wing we can be the best wizards out there!" He kept going on and on which was starting to get on my nerves. I finally turned around and started walking away from him knowing my anger was reaching a point. He then grabbed my hands with his and I violently threw my hands down to my side.

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE! MAGIC ISN'T SOMETHING ANYONE IN THIS WORLD SHOULD WANT UNLESS YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I HAD TO GO THROUGH TO GET MINE! GOD WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO TALK THIS TO ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT MAGIC, A KID YOUR AGE MUST HAVE MANY OF THEM!" I roared. I quickly watched as the happy smiles on Shawn's face suddenly drop and the happy atmosphere he had going was replaced with pain. I turned around and walked towards my bike and left to pick up the food at Bamboo Garden.

I pulled into the giant parking lot that had many different stores attached to this one giant building and Bamboo was in between a pizza place called Papa Johns and Fiesta Hair Salon. I walked in and saw a guy walk out the door past me who had a somewhat toned body, wore glasses, blonde hair, and was wearing this orange shirt with black pants. He walked right past me eyeing at my ring on my finger. I ignored this and walked up to the counter asking for the food that was placed and I paid for it then walked out. Upon walking out I started to calm down at this point and thought about what I had said to Shawn earlier, "What I said to him was really harsh, but at the same time he was getting on my nerves. Plus he wants to be a wizard at any cost? I didn't ask for this power and I'm stuck with it for who knows how long. I had to come on the verge of death to get this power. Who in their right minds would want to be on the verge of death to obtain something? Who would want that life?" I was confused at what I had done and just kept trying to justify my wrongdoing. I threw my entire conversation to the back of my mind and rode home. Once I got home, I went to go and take a nap from dealing with all of the stress I went through today.


	7. Live Broadcast, Water Style

(Shawn's Viewpoint)

I was seriously pissed off from what that wizard said to me, "What would you know about not having friends? You can use magic and save people lives, you'd probably have hundreds of friends for the things you do. I've been alone for the past four years because of my belief in magic. So what do you know about being alone." I said angrily. I walked back to the library where I felt safe to get my mind off things. I walked in and went to the teen section to check out some books. While hanging in the teen section I saw a little girl with her mom and dad, "I love you mommy and daddy. I've wanted to get this book about the little magician's apprentice for a really long time now." She said.

I saw that big smile on her face as she was holding her parent's hand. I remembered when I used to be that happy with my parents growing up before they got divorced three years ago and I was left with my mom. I took out a photo in my wallet I had of my mother which had writing on the back of it that read, "Believe in yourself and your dreams will come true." My heart began to hurt as I remembered her vanishing mysteriously and never came back. My dad was nowhere to be found or contacted and I became legally emancipated living in a group home where I had my own space. It was lonely living there which is why I always hung out at the library. "Books happen to be the only friends I have. They help me escape reality for a while and go to a world that is different from my own." I said picking up a book on dragons.

Sometime had passed and I decided to go back to the group home and get something to eat. Upon leaving the group of kids who were being attacked by the monsters found me and ran up to me. Some adults were with them and the kid Mike ran up to me, "Mister, thank you for saving me and my friend's lives back at the park." He said. All of the kids said thank you but the parent's weren't believing his story of being attacked, I told the parents that I casted magic and destroyed one of the monsters but they weren't believing me. So I raised one finger in front of my face.

"It's true watch this I can cast fire!" I focused a lot of my energy into my one finger and pointed away from the people, "Chinchin Pui Pui." I said aloud. A stream of fire left my finger and all of the kids and parents were amazed. I did it a couple more times as I started putting on a show for everyone that was walked by. I got to practice it a lot in front of a group of maybe thirty people amazed that someone can cast magic.

Then someone from the BG News Live approached me with a camera guy, "WHOO! That's some fine magic there son. Can I get you for an interview really quick for the BGNL?" He said to me. The guy was wearing a black suit and had short black hair. He held a microphone in front of my face, "Well yea sure! I want everyone to know how my magic saved these kid's lives." I said to him as I brought Mike up to get in on the shot.

"My name is Martin Fall, I'm the lead anchor for BGNL and my partner here and I were getting some food in town and then I saw this and we had to stop and see if your magic is real. Can you cast it out a few more times for the camera, but please don't shoot it at the camera. This equipment is rather expensive." He said jokingly. I had everyone clear the way and pointed my finger out and said my spell, "Chinchin Pui Pui!" I said. Fire erupted from my finger again and I was able to for the first time cause it to do certain tricks that really amazed everyone. I did a few more tricks to please people and even melted a plastic bottle which made me people even more amazed at my magic.

"Magnificent! Absolutely gorgeous! Bob I think we got ourselves a star for the evening lead tomorrow night. Kid what's your name?" He asked with a huge smile on his face. I looked at him as happy as I can be, "Shawn Newberry sir." Everyone around me was so happy and the kid Mike came up trying to get the microphone brought down to his face, "Shawn is my new hero! He saved me from getting hit by a car and gave me this band aide." A lot of the other kids were joining in on how I saved their friend and my life started to really look up now.

After everyone left the library but the host Martin stayed behind and sent his cameraman on his way. "Now look here Shawn I'm really moved by your ability to cast fire from your fingers and would love it if you came down at eight tonight to show the entire world!" He said. I got even more excited and started jumping up and down, "Yes! I surely can stop by!" I was really excited and Martin took out a card that he gave me. "This is my business card. If you need to get ahold of me for anything then please do so. I'll look forward to seeing you tonight Shawn the Spellcaster." He turned around and walked away from me and I ran off down the street skipping on down excited at how my day had begun to heal and get better.

"I don't care if that wizard doesn't believe in me and I won't let his words get me down. I'm going to be on TV and I'll show the entire world that I can do magic! Nothing will break me down anymore! Mom I'm finally living one of my dreams and I hope you will be there to see it tomorrow!" I had so many exciting thoughts go on in my head as I skipped down the street going back to the group home to tell them how my day had been going.

(Medusa's Viewpoint)

I was on top of one of the buildings in Bowling Green look out on it, "A lot of precious little Gates just waiting to fall into despair. Just like you did two weeks ago…Hellhound." I turned around and saw Hellhound emerge from a dark shadow spot, "I'm so glad Wizard didn't check the damage otherwise I'd probably be a goner by now." He said.

Phoenix finally joined the party as he punched Hellhound in the shoulder, "I'm so happy your alive Hellhound! You really had me worried with the whole destruction in the factory." I watched as the two began to wrestle on the rooftop and then looked at the kid who Hellhound was hanging with skipping down the street. "Hellhound, do me a favor tomorrow would you?" I asked.

Hellhound walked over and kneeled at my feet, "Yes Medusa what is it?" I turned around and handed him a book and a photo, "This book was supposed to come in today for him. It's the thing that gives him hope, as well as a picture of a happy moment he had with his parents. I want you to destroy these in front of him in any manner you see fit. Also take this bag, inside are special ghouls that will help keep Wizard at bay." I handed him the bag and he ended up leaving the rooftop to me and Phoenix.

"You know Medusa we should really start getting more involved with fighting Wizard. We are both stronger than any of the Phantoms other than our master Wiseman. We can easily destroy him if we work together."

I looked back down at the kid as Phoenix said this, "Don't worry in a few weeks I'll be getting personally involved." I said with a wicked smile on my face.

(Travis's Viewpoint)

Evening finally hit and all three of us were sitting around watching a comedy movie. I had ordered a pizza for all of us and it hadn't arrived yet, "Hey Travis don't forget I'll need some mana today." Karina said shyly. I had forgotten about giving her mana and positioned myself on the couch.

"Okay get ready Karina." I said. I grabbed her hand and scanned it over the belt.

 **"** **Please, please."**

The belt said as an orange glow started to surround Karina. While this process was going on a woman walked through the front door, "Hey Travis are you home right now?" She said holding the pizza in her hands. She then saw what I was doing with Karina, "What's going on here?!" She said with a bit of a scream. The mana I was giving to Karina finally stopped.

"I think I'll be okay with this." She said. I quickly got up and looked at Robin Meade, the police officer that I saved from turning into a phantom. "Officer Meade, what are you doing here?" I asked her. I was more curious to know why she was holding the pizza, "Well…I…I wanted to…I'm sorry was I interrupting something?" she said surprised. Karina began to speak up, "He was giving me energy to live." Robin was still confused and I felt like maybe I had some explaining to do.

Robin put down the pizza on the table and then sat in the chair next to DJ, "About four months ago Karina and I were attacked by the same monsters that attacked you. When we were attacked I was forced into despair and I fought back. When I did I found a giant red stone where Karina and I were that gave me the power to become Wizard, the thing I transform into. With these powers I'm able to turn despair into hope as well as save people. The next day Karina was attacked by a phantom named Minotauros and he successfully caused her to despair. I went into her Underworld and destroyed the phantom she would've turned into, but when I was successful and emerged back into the real world…I was too late. Her underworld, her very soul was too damaged beyond repair, Karina had died. Another Wizard like me dawned in white approached me giving me a ring that could bring her back which is the one that she now wears. Two times a week I have to give her my mana, or the strength that I use to fight the phantoms, if I don't and her mana dies out, I'll lose Karina again and I won't ever get her back."

Robin was amazed at what she heard and had a hard time finding things to say. "Let's change gears now, Ms. Meade what have you stopped by for? Are we in trouble for anything?" DJ asked.

Robin began waving her hands back and forth, 'Oh no you guys aren't in trouble I just never had a chance to thank you Travis for saving me and my mother back at the barn. I didn't know how to say thank you so while you were in the hospital I had them give me your hospital bill and me and my mom paid for it. I tried finding you and based off what I found out was you were living here. I tried at your parent's place but the place looks like no one has lived in it for months." Robin explained. I got up out of my chair and noticed something in my pocket. I put my hand in and pulled out the donut Rachel had made me for and it was all smashed and hard.

"I kind of feel bad now not eating it." I thought to myself. I walked up to Robin and held my hand out, "If you ever need anything you can always stop by." I said to her. She shook my hand with a smile on her face.

Karina was flipping through the channels on the TV until she found one that was interesting, "Hey bro you might want to come over here and look at this." She said with worry in her voice. I looked over my shoulder to see Shawn Newberry on the TV casting fire out of his hands, "What's he doing on live TV with the missing anchor?"

I heard Robin say. My hands immediately grabbed the side of the TV screen wondering about this missing reporter, "What do you mean missing anchor Robin?" I asked her.

"Three months ago a group of people had gone up missing and no one has ever heard from them. But it was until yesterday did the anchorman for BGNL announce his return. He's holding a special show tonight in about thirty minutes and it will be an hour long special." Robin said worried.

I looked at Karina who had that look in her eye as if trouble was about to brew, "I need to find Shawn." I said to her. She nodded and I quickly grabbed my coat and put on my shoes. "Where are you thinking of going Travis?" Robin asked me. I started tying my shoes and then grabbed the doorknob, "I might've said some horrible things to Shawn and I need to apologize to him. Plus I think that anchor guy is a Phantom, and if that's the case Shawn is in a lot of trouble." I almost got ready to dart out the door but DJ stopped me.

"Travis, when you're going through your darkest moment you can use the Light Ring to brighten your path." He said. I didn't know what he had meant but I quickly hurried out. I didn't even give Karina a hug or goodbye before heading out as I was worried about Shawn's safety. Lucky for me I knew where the BGNL does there live broadcast from: two blocks before the campus near the number streets of Bowling Green.

(Shawn's Viewpoint)

I walked up to the building that was located on the card that Martin gave me. Once I got to the door and opened it, everyone who saw me began clapping and getting really excited. One person walked up to me who was the cameraman, "Ah hey we've all been waiting for you! Follow me this way Shawn." He said. I was so amazed at how my life had been now turning out and everyone smiling at me and shaking my hand like I was a celebrity.

"This is the best day of my life!" I said loudly in my head. I finally got to the viewing room where Martin was getting ready for the program to start, "Oh hey there Shawn I'm so glad you could make it. We didn't want our big star to be late so it's great for you to be here. We will be starting in twenty minutes, is everyone at their positions?" He asked. Everyone had confirmed back and the scene where I would be standing was already getting prepped. Martin came up and wrapped his arm around my neck, "Ok young man are you ready for the show of a lifetime? I want you to give your best performance out there. The whole city of Bowling Green will be watching you, maybe even the entire state. So I need you to get your game face on. Here's the lowdown, you will wait over there by the plastic model tree and when I say your name I want you to come out and stand right there on the red and black circles we have drawn on the floor. You will have two minutes to show off your stuff and the people who will judge your performance will be sitting over here off to the side. Once your performance is over we will have a break and you'll exit off stage. How's that for a plan?" He said to me. Getting really excited I told him it was a great idea and I ran to take my position. When I looked around everyone in the entire building was inside the room wanting to see my performance.

I had wished that I had my Alakazam book to show off what inspired me to become a wizard. Once I got over to the tree I saw a copy of the book sitting there, "Oh my god the book! Martin must've gotten me a copy of the book." I started flipping through the pages reading it to pass the time. I saw at the end of the book it was stamped with the library's stamp, "Martin must've been borrowing this book meaning when it came to him I'd be next in line! This day just keeps getting better." I said squealing.

Finally the show began to start and Martin walked up into the spotlight and began his announcement. "Ladies and Gentleman! I'd like to thank all of you for showing up today. Today I'd like to kick things off with a special guest, Bowling Green's finest wizard: Shawn Newberry!" He said cheerfully. Everyone began clapping as I ran out from behind the tree and stood on the circle in a ready stance. Everyone began cheering me and getting excited and I raised my finger in front of my face, "Are you ready to see this kid give you some flare?" He said getting the crowd going. I looked at my finger and then shouted my spell, "Chichin Pui Pui." I said pointing my finger in front of me. But no flames came out of my finger.

"Chichin Pui Pui. Chichin Pui Pui! CHICHIN PUI PUI!" I kept trying to have fire erupt from my fingers and the loud cheering began to quickly die down. I looked around me to see people have a disappointed look on their face and the judges next to me were wearing the same expression as the staff in the building, "I know I can cast fire. I did it before earlier today. I made fire erupt from my hands no more than two hours ago!" I explained. I could feel my heart hurting and then someone's hand was on my shoulder.

"It's okay Shawn, most people normally have a gimmick on how they set up their magic tricks. Maybe you just forgot them or lost them. Either way you have shown to everyone that you're not just some entertainer, but a liar. Of course what can we adults expect out of children these days?" Martin said to me. He walked in front of me holding the book and then took out a photo from his pocket, "I guess not only did you fail the entire world at showing your magic tricks, but you failed your mother too. I'm pretty sure you feel like you've failed yourself too? I guess you're not just a liar, but a failure as well. The lonely little child who had no friends because he believed in something that doesn't really exist." Martin slammed the book and the photo of my mom onto the ground and then stomped his foot on them.

"Why are you saying this Martin? Do you know what you're saying right now? Do you even know what you're doing to me right now?" I asked as I began crying. Martin began laughing uncontrollably and then grabbed me by the throat. Once he did this people started to come up to him and then he transformed with this purple mist into a monster. This monster was the same monster that had attacked the kids in the park: Hellhound. "You're the same monster who attacked those kids!" I said shocked. He then shot out a fire ball from his hands and had it hit three of the staff members causing them to erupt into flames. They both quickly fell to the ground screaming in pain and then their screams stopped. I was thrown down onto the ground as everyone began evacuating the room and leaving me behind.

"Well ain't this a surprise. The people who tried to come to your rescue are now either dead or have left you alone with me. I guess at the end of the day you are alone and no one ever cares about you." He said. I was just getting emotionally and verbally abused left and right and my will to live began to sink really fast.

The monster stood in front of me and pointed his finger at me, "Do you want to know how you were able to cast those flames child? Well I'll show you." The monster ran at me and hid himself in my shadow. My entire body was at his control and I didn't know how much worse things could get.

"Get…Out…Of my body!" I said with no effect. I fought as hard as I could trying to cast Hellhound out of my body but then he had me facing the book with a photo of my mom and raised my finger, "STOP IT!" I said but then fire erupted from my fingers and burned not only the book, but my mom's photo with the words that kept me believing in magic. While watching the two items quickly turning into ash I could hear the words my mom wrote on her photograph, "Believe in what you believe in. I love you son." The more fire that showed on the book and photo, the more those words began to fade from my memory. Hellhound erupted out of my body and began laughing while looking down at me and I reached out to the fiery items, "That was my hope, those two things kept me going. I don't want this anymore, I can't do this anymore." I said. I saw purple cracks start forming around me and some showed on my hand.

"Yes Shawn give into despair and die. No one will save you now, why would they care about some kid who can't grow up? Why should anyone care about a sixteen year old who acts like a child? Your immaturity drives everyone away and when you actually need someone, no one is there to answer the call." Hellhound said confidently. More cracks started to form and before I was ready to give in, the doors to the room were kicked open and a voice that I didn't think I'd ever hear rang inside my ears.

(Travis's Viewpoint)

I was running all over the building trying to find where Shawn could be and witness a group of people running from a certain direction. "MONSTER! THERE'S A MONSTER IN THE RECORDING ROOM!" Multiple people were yelling. I ran up to a lady, "Where is the monster?" I asked. The woman responded with the recording room down the hall and how Shawn was there with the monster as well as three people having burned to death. I quickly ran towards the recording room and heard the monster talking, "…Why should anyone care about a sixteen year old who acts like a child? Your immaturity drives everyone away and when you actually need someone, no one is there to answer the call." I knew the voice was Hellhound. I raised my foot and kicked the door inward and walked in, "That's a lie!" I said at the Phantom. Hellhound quickly turned around and in the partial dark and lit room I saw Shawn on the ground with the cracks forming like crazy.

"You think you can take care of this immature child? If I remember correctly you pushed him away too. So why are you caring about this kid who is just a fraud and a fake?" Hellhound said confused.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

I lifted up my yellow Land ring, "I did push him away. I didn't want to accept the thing that makes him Shawn. I didn't take the time to get to know him and because of that I judged him based off of a one-time encounter. But I'm here to make up for mistake, and I won't let you have him. You will get away from him and accept the death that I'm about to give you. Transform." I said. I flipped the switches on my belt and scanned my Land Style Ring.

 **"** **Land, please. Earth! Earth! Earth! Earth!"**

A yellow circle appeared below my feet then moved up my entire body and my swordgun already in hand, "Now, it's showtime."

I ran towards Hellhound who shot out balls of fire at me that I knocked back at him and he absorbed in. "I can consume fire Wizard! You can't stop me with that element!" Hellhound said happily. I finally got up to him and began slashing him with my sword but he kept dodging and moving side to side. Hellhound now got into my face and I sliced at his left side but before I made contact he took his entire body and hid in the shadow's beneath me. He reappeared behind me and show a fireball at my back causing me to fall forward onto the ground in pain. I switched my sword into gun mode and began shooting at him but he hid back into the shadows and every bullet and then reappear. He kept doing this until he finally was right next to me and grabbed me by my throat. He lifted me into the air and kept jabbing me in the gut while cutting off my oxygen. "How's it feel Wizard? Can't get oxygen into your lungs if I'm choking and punching you right?" He said. I was starting to lose my vision and right before his next blow he dropped me.

Before I hit the ground he roundhouse kicked me hard that I went soaring right through the green screen and knocking over the set's equipment. He shot multiple fireballs in my direction and when I got back up I ended up taking the balls of fire causing me to fly backwards until I hit the wall behind me. "I can't keep fighting him like this; I need to change my form." I thought to myself. I watched as Hellhound began to slowly walk towards me and in his hands was Shawn who was still despairing and this time the cracks were almost consuming his entire body. I reached for my ring holder and pulled out my blue transformation ring.

"Anything you do is useless you have about four minutes left before Shawn despairs. Nothing you do can stop me; I have you backed into a corner where you can't fight your way out of." He said tauntingly. I got back up on my feet still dealing with the pain of being sent across an entire room and slid my new ring on my finger and flipped the switches on my belt.

 **"** **Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform!"**

 **"** **Water, please! Water! Water! Water! Water!"**

A blue circle appeared on my side and slowly made its way through me revealing my new form.

My head piece was replaced with a pointy blue gem and my armor that was yellow was now a shiny deep blue. I got back up in the fight and my body began to feel a bit more fluent, "You've obtained my other power: Water Style. This form may not be as strong as the others but it does do well with wearing down your opponent and has a great way of evading attacks. Use this to your advantage against Hellhound's fireballs." Dragon said.

I ran towards Hellhound who shot out multiple balls of fire at me and I pulled back on the thumb of my swordgun.

 **"Water Shooting Strike! Water! Water! Water!"**

I pulled the trigger lightly and shot small balls of water at each of his fireballs. When our elements collided, they vanished and I finally got up close to Hellhound and jumped in the air to kick him across the face. He moved back and now was a couple feet away from Shawn which I then raised my gun up and pulled the trigger as a giant ball of water began growing at the end of my gun. The giant ball of water quickly spun around and zoomed towards Hellhound which then he jumped back into the shadow on the ground to dodge it. We ended up going back to shooting at the ground and I wasn't getting anywhere and then he appeared right in front of Shawn where I aimed my gun at Hellhound.

"Come on and shoot me, I'll only go back into the shadows and you'll end up putting a bullet through him." Hellhound said mockingly. I raised my gun up so I didn't shoot Shawn and Hellhound vanished into the shadows and appeared behind me. He grabbed me around my neck and shot fire at my back legs causing me to lose my balance. Hellhound then took my swordgun and switched back to sword form. "Now this blade can be a dangerous weapon can't it? Let's see how well you like getting hit with this." He began slashing my chest with it causing me too feel lots of pain. The more he slashed, the more pain I was feeling and soon my power started to give out and I looked at Shawn who was down to his last minute. He was hunched back on the ground just staring at it and I reached out to him, "I can't do it anymore. I just can't. I've been all alone because of my beliefs in magic, and no one wanted to be around me. But I can tell soon that I'll never have to worry about that again. No one will ever have to deal with me ever again." He said. He was rocking violently back and forth and a giant crack began forming on his back, and I decided to fight back.

Seeing as how Hellhound wasn't standing on me, I reached up and grabbed the blade that was going for my face with one hand. I then pulled on my blade causing Hellhound to fall forward towards me which I then lifted my leg and kicked him hard and far away from me. He landed backwards and my sword back in hand, "I'm getting really tired of seeing Shawn like this and I'm going to end things here and now Hellhound." I proclaimed.

Hellhound began wrapping himself in fire, "Same here Wizard, this move will kill you and you won't even see it coming until it's too late!" Hellhound yelled. He buried himself into the darkness once more and I reached from my ring holder my new spell ring, "Let's see how well you can hide in darkness when there is nothing but light." I said. I flipped my switches until my hand on the right and I scanned my ring.

 **"Light, please."**

I shot out a bright light that made every inch of dark in the room be lit up. This caused Hellhound to emerge behind me about ten feet away, "So that's where you were." I said as I pulled on the black thumb on my sword.

 **"C'mon Slash and Shake Hands!"**

 **"** **Water Slash Strike! Water! Water! Water!"**

My blade began to have blue mystical water wrap itself from the hilt to the tip. "I CAN'T SEE! THAT SPELL MADE ME BLIND!" Hellhound roared. I spun around and pulled the trigger sending the water that wrapped around my blade at him which cut him in half. A small explosion was made and Hellhound had finally died.

I quickly ran back to Shawn and took out an Engage Ring from my holster, "Glad we had a lot of spares." I said to myself. I lifted Shawn's finger and slid it on, "Why? Why are you helping me? What am I to you?" Shawn said still wrapped up in his despair. I flipped the switches on my belt and scanned the ring over it, "I'm going to be the hope that you need. I'm going to be the friend that you need. I'm helping you because said something's that were wrong of me and I want to tell you how sorry I am. As to what I am to you, I am a wizard who is in need of an apprentice." I said. I placed the ring at my belt.

 **"Engage, please."**

The belt said. Before Shawn passed out from my spell he had this smile on his face that was different from all of his others. A red circle appeared over him and I jumped inside as I plummeted into his underworld.

I went through the same circles and emerged inside an empty library. I looked around amazed at how the children's section of the Wood County Library looked way back then. I found an empty corner where kids could draw and make art, and there sat Shawn Newberry with his mother and the Alakazam book. "I want to be a magnificent wizard someday! I want to bring the smiles to everyone in town using my magic." Shawn said excitedly to his mother. He lifted his finger and pointed at the air, "Mom I learned the name of a spell one of my friends taught me." He said. Shawn raised his finger and pointed in my direction, "Chichin Pui Pui." Once he was done saying his spell a giant purple crack formed in front of them and what smashed through looked like a green Cyclops with a club for a weapon. He smacked me with it and I was sent flying through the shelves of the library. The monster took this time to smash through the buildings of the library leaving a bunch of giant cracks. I looked around as a bunch of Shawn's from different ages began appearing and fading throughout the library and I knew my time was drawing to a close.

I ran out of the library and saw Cyclops jumping onto buildings and smashing them to pieces with his club. I took out my ring, "Dragon we got work to do!" I said. I flipped the levers on my switch and scanned my ring.

 **"Dragorise, please!"**

I shot out a red spell circle and Dragon emerged from it fighting Cyclops. Dragon carried Cyclops far away from downtown toward the Bowling Green University Campus and I pulled out another ring and slid it on and then scanned it.

 **"Connect, please."**

I reached inside a spell circle and pulled out my motorbike but not before I noticed a new ring lying at my feet. The picture had a dragon with a sleep bubble coming out of its nose. "I don't know what this does but I'm taking it anyway." I picked up the spell ring and got on my bike. I rode into town trying to catch up to Dragon who was plummeting towards me. I pulled my bike to quick stop and saw Cyclops using his club to smash Dragon's head into the ground. When I looked around I saw the entire black and grey Underworld becoming extremely purple and I needed to finish this fight quick. "By the looks of things if Cyclops smashes one more thing with that club I'm going to lose Shawn." I thought to myself. At that moment I saw Cyclops stop pummeling Dragon and I could tell Dragon could not fight anymore. Cyclops was staring at something in the distance and when I looked over I saw a woman and a child. After close inspection it was Shawn and his mother, and Cyclops raised his club getting ready to throw it towards them.

"Oh no you don't freak!" I said as I pulled out my swordgun. I put the gun in sword mode and pulled back on the thumb.

 **"C'mon Shoot and Shake Hands!**

 **Flame, Shooting Strike!"**

Fire began forming into a giant bullet at the end of my gun and Cyclops through the club and right when he did, I pulled the trigger. My giant ball of fire shot out to Cyclops and hit him but the club was still going because even though Cyclops was burning he was still alive. I pulled back on my thumb and grabbed my Big Ring.

 **"Big, Shooting Strike."**

I pulled the trigger as a giant bullet left from my gun and went right through Cyclops head and right before the club hit Shawn and his mother, it disappeared and the cracks in Shawn's Underworld as well as the purple coloring vanished. Dragon vanished as well and a red spell circle appeared in front of me and right before I walked through it I heard something. "Mom who is that person over there?" Shawn said pointing in my direction. I turned around to see my younger self sitting at the church steps that was next to the court house reading a book. I looked back at Shawn and his mother, "I don't know but I have a feeling that one day you guys will be friends, maybe even the best of friends." His mother said. I felt a bit moved and walked through the circle as I appeared next to Shawn who was passed out from battling his despair and I picked his body up and called DJ, "DJ can you get your car and pick us up? We are near the number streets. Just get to Scott Hamilton Street and we'll be on the corner." I requested. DJ said he was on his way and I carried Shawn's body on my back and walked to the corner waiting for our ride. "Even in your despair you put me through a lot of trouble. Rest easy Shawn when you wake up I'm going to make it all up to you."


	8. Karina Medrano

Two days had passed since Shawn's despair and I'll never forget how extremely difficult it was for me. I was sitting in the living room reading the newspaper, "I'm surprised at how in this city that is so small I haven't been mentioned at all." I said aloud. Karina had walked into the living room and you could tell based off her hair she had just gotten done taking a shower. "Hey bro how are you today?" She asked me with the same smile that she gave me the first time we met.

"I'm doing okay I've been curious as to why Phantoms or me haven't been mentioned in the paper the past four months." I said as I threw the paper on the table. I put my back up against the sofa and rubbed my eyes when I was done I looked to see Karina sitting next to me.

"Bro I'm going to need more mana." She said. I forgot it was that time of the week again and I grabbed her hand and scanned it over my belt.

 **"** **Please, please."**

Orange sparkly energy left my body and consumed hers. It was at this point and time that I saw the front door swing open, "Oh no not again." I thought. I saw Shawn burst through the door at his wild antics again.

"MASTER TRAVIS! I found an ancient relic that you must see ri-." Shawn had his jaw dropped as he saw where Karina's hand was positioned that was over my waist and all of the orange mana that was emanating from me had vanished. "Um. Uhhh. You know….I think I'm interrupting a very special moment for us young adults so…BYE!" He said and quickly ran out the door slamming it behind him. He was still outside the door as he yelled through it these words, "Make sure to use some protection! Teenage pregnancies are very bad!"

I was completely shocked at how oblivious Shawn was, "Did he seriously think I was going to have sex with you?" I questioned Karina. She was just as shocked as I was, "I can see why he was so hard to deal with. He's been here a lot the past two days looking for you." I got up and looked around the living room for the clock and found the time.

"It's almost noon. Karina I know you've been cooped up in this place a lot, how about we go hang out. I have more power so I can protect you if anything happens." Karina got extremely jumpy at the sound of this and ran back to her telling me to wait as she got ready. It didn't take long for her to get ready and when she came back down she was wearing a black shirt with a green light jacket and blue jeans. She had this pink book bag on and she put her black hair back into a ponytail.

"Okay let's go bro! Come on! I want to go out and see a lot of places and things!" She said excitingly. I had grabbed my black coat and the moment I put it on my arm I was immediately grabbed and Karina was dragging me along to the motorbike.

I hopped onto the bike and so did Karina. She wrapped her arms around my waist, "Okay so where do you like to go today?" I asked her. She started scratching her head and looking up at the sky, "I want to go get something to eat. But I want something small, something to snack on." She requested. I knew exactly where we could go and I made our destination for Grounds for Thought. While driving through the different streets Karina was making a lot of noises, "Pew. Pew. Pew pew." I looked back at her to see her pointing at all of the cars that were parked and was shooting them with her fingers as if it was an actual gun.

"She has a kid side to her huh?" I thought to myself. We were a few blocks away from Grounds for Thought and Karina was kind of amazed at all of the places she was getting to see. We finally pulled up to the back of the donut and coffee shop as we walked inside. I opened the door for Karina and she ran inside and was gone in an instant.

"I think she'll be fine. I don't think any Phantoms will attack us in a space like this." I said to myself. I walked in and Karina was perusing a shelf of books. A lot of them were supernatural or some horror books. One shelf was designated to something called Manga. She was hovering over the books and had found one that she seemed to really enjoy. I walked up to her in order to figure out what she wanted while I let her enjoy reading, "Hey you want a sandwich, donut, or some cake?" I asked. She mentioned she could eat anything and to surprise her. I walked up to the counter and I noticed Rachel wasn't there today. "Hey Travis how are you doing today? Rachel called in sick today so I'm taking over her shift. My name is Matthew, I just started working here last week. Rachel told me all about you, I saw you in here the other day as well." I was kind of surprised of the new worker and ended up ordering a Plain Sugar donut, the Turkey Club Sandwich, and a bottle of water. "Okay your total is 7.95 is that for here today Travis?"

I told him what I ordered was all and he got me everything really quickly. I wished him a good day and walked with the food back to Karina. When I got back Karina was at this table trying to put together a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle. When the puzzle was completed it should show a picture of two grey parrots standing next to each other on a tree branch. She was lost in thought at trying to figure out the puzzle, "Hey if you're going to figure out a puzzle then you should try and eat something while you are doing it." I said as I put the food and water in front of her.

We hung out for a couple hours at the donut shop before heading out. We got outside and Karina saw a kid running up to the store and one of them tripped and fell onto the pavement and was bleeding down the leg. Before I could do anything Karina was already running towards the kid and she was rummaging through her book bag and pulled out a small first aid kit. The kid was crying and the mom was running up to her child. "Timmy are you okay? What did you to do to hurt yourself silly?" She said comforting her child. Karina had wiped away the blood and placed a band aid on the wound.

"Okay he should be all set to go." The kid was still crying a bit and Karina pulled out from her bag a red bouncing ball with some black dots on it, "Here you go. Maybe this will bring a smile to that sad face." She said. She dropped the ball onto the ground and caught it with her hand. She then gave the ball to the kid who had a smile on his face, "Thank you." Timmy said with a happy expression.

The mom looked at Karina and thanked her as well for helping her child. Karina got off the ground and watched as the two entered the shop, "Wow, you really helped that child out. That was really cool Karina." I said praising her. When I looked back at Karina her happy face was gone and the atmosphere around her was weird. "Why are you looking down Karina? I thought you might be happy for helping the kid?" I asked her. She had a bit of frown on her face and then she shook her head and the smile reappeared.

"Oh it's nothing you need to worry about bro. Oh hey let's go to Wal-Mart I want to get some new clothes!" She started skipping to the bike and I was really worried about what I just witnessed with her, "Why was she down about helping that kid out? She kind of looked like she wanted to cry as well." I wanted to figure out what was going on but decided to wait until we got home.

We drove down Church Street until we hit Sandridge. I took a left on Sandridge until we hit Main Street. I then took a right and kept going for about half a mile until we saw Wal-Mart and its huge parking lot. I tried to get a spot as closed to the front but to no avail. I parked in the far back and the both of us got off the bike, "Wow this store is extremely packed today." Karina stated. We walked inside on the right side of the building and from there it was just a straight shot to the women's clothing. Karina was checking out a lot of bright colored clothes, "You seem to really like bright colors don't you Karina?" I asked. She was looking at a bathing suit set, "Yeah I do. I don't want to wear dark clothes forever. I want to wear something that makes me seem more positive and energetic. If you want to make changes to your life then I think you should change your choice of clothes as well to promote your new image." Karina always had a weird way of thinking. I watched over her looking at new pants, shirts, even bathing suits. She seemed to be having the time of her life here and already grabbed a few sets of clothes to go try on. We walked to the middle of the clothing aisles where there was a dressing room. I waited outside as she tried on her new clothes, "Do you want me to tell you if they look good on you when you come out?" I asked her. She didn't say anything but shook her head sideways. She quickly ran into the dressing room and I looked at the lady that was working at the desk, "If she wonders where I'm at I'm still in the store. Can you let her know to call me if she needs anything?" I asked the worker. She said she would pass the message off to Karina and I walked around the store a bit.

I wanted to get her something to commemorate us hanging out for the first time outside of DJ's place. Based off what she was reading at Grounds I stopped at the book section at the front of the store. I couldn't find anything that looked like she might enjoy reading. I saw a book series called Divergent, "This doesn't even sound like it'd be worth reading." I left the book aisle and walked back at the women's aisle seeing if there was anything I could get her and I found this black shirt with gold stars on it and gold writing that said Los Lunas. It was really pretty to look at and it wasn't much. So I took that and was going to purchase it but then I walked past the bathing suit she was looking at a lot, "She was staring at this a lot. How come she didn't take it with her to try on?" I thought. The bathing suit was a two piece and it was a bright shade of red with white stripes. I grabbed the medium size since I saw her taking medium into the dressing room and walked up to the counter. My total was about twenty dollars and the bathing suit was more expensive than the black and gold shirt. I double bagged so it was a little less visible and I could have it as a surprise when she got out of the dressing room. "I guess the reason why she didn't take it was because of the price." I walked back to the dressing room stuffing the receipt in my pocket.

Karina was waiting for me and she had only a couple sets of clothes she wanted to buy. "These fit me a lot more than the others. What's in the bag bro?" She said as she was eyeing the bag in my hand. I handed her the bag and in return she handed me the clothes to hold onto, "Why don't you take a look. It's something I got for you while you were trying on clothes. You might like them." I told her. She was rummaging through the bag and saw the black and gold shirt and she had a wide smile on her face. Then she found the swimsuit and immediately bear hugged me, "I love them so much. Thanks for getting them for me." I looked at her as she pulled the swimsuit out, "I was thinking that the city pool is opening up in a few weeks and I thought maybe we should go swimming sometime." That caused her to become happy even more. We decided to head out and pay for the merchandise and once we headed out the front door I looked at Karina, "So where do you want to go next your highness?" I said jokingly.

Karina laughed, "Hahaha. I'm not a princess or anything Travis." She said laughing. Once she was done laughing she told me she had no idea where she wanted to go but she didn't want to go home. "Is there something nature like we could go here?" She asked. I knew a place and we put her clothes in her bag and drove off to down the street where Wal-Mart was located.

I got up to the trailer parks and took a left until I got to the end of the trailer park. We left my bike behind and had a bit of a walk onto private property. It was just an acre of land that belongs to the trailer park and the residents. We got up to a wired fence and I walked along the fence and hopped on some logs that were stacked on top of each other. I turned around and held my hand out for Karina to grab. She grabbed my hand and we started walking through a small forest, "Where are we going bro?" she asked. I kept my mouth quiet and we kept walking through the small forest until we got up to a rocky path that led to a pond that was maybe twenty to thirty feet wide. There was a stone path that led to the middle of the pond and a big log that was on the edge of the rocks next to the water. I let go of Karina's hand and rolled the log away from the water and sat down on it. "Why don't you come and sit down and listen to the sound of nature." I suggested.

Karina sat next to me and she saw me close my eyes as I listened to the birds chirping, the animals running in the small wooded area, and the wind blowing through the open area. "I use to come here with my parents and we would skip rocks, listen to nature, and one time we tried swimming here. I remembered we camped out here; we camped in the woods where people couldn't see us because it's illegal to be on this property. I haven't been back since my parent's deaths probably because I was scared." Karina sat closer to me and put her head on my shoulder, she was looking at the ground and I was able to catch a tear fall down her face.

"You don't ever talk about your parents. Why?" I asked her. She forced a smile on her face, "It's nothing really." She said. She grabbed a rock and threw it across the water, "Oh yay! I actually got it to skip! Bro did you see that? It skipped three times!" She looked at me with a smile on her face and I was able to know that this smile wasn't her actual happy one. It was more like she was trying to hide something.

I grabbed her hand and she looked at me, "Earlier today you helped that boy who fell. You had a genuine smile on your face while helping him, and then when the mom thanked you, your entire mood died. Why did that happen?" I asked her. She went back to that frown and then forced herself to smile again. "Oh you don't need to worry about that bro I'll be okay." She said. I knew I was breaking through so I wrapped my arms around her, "Look, for the past three and half months you've helped me stand back on my own two feet. You were there for me when I didn't want anyone around, and right after I became Wizard you seemed to be always struggling with something. I went to your underworld I saw a piece of you and ever since then I worry about you. What I'm getting at is you've helped me stand back up, so why won't you let me do the same for you?" Karina was fighting me a bit to break free until I said that last sentence.

She stopped fighting and her shoulders kept moving up and down as she started crying. She was crying so much and was trying to talk to me but her words were hard to understand. "I…I…Miss my fam…Familia…I miss my mom…My dad…Even my Brother…It…It…It hurts so much. I feel like I'm all alone when…Everyone has a family…And….I DON'T!" She began burying her face into my chest as she started to miss her family. When she calmed down she told me about why it was just her and her brother Eduardo, the Minotauros Phantom I defeated. She told me how lazy she was in helping out around the house and how her brother did everything for her. She told me everything they did after their parent's abandoned them, and how much she wish she could just see her parents again one day. "I miss them a lot. I want to see them again one more time and let them know that I'm doing okay. I just want to talk to them one more time." She said sadly. I knew exactly how she felt; I'd give anything if I could see my parents one more time.

We stayed at the pond until it got dark, "You know I had fun today. I never thought I would feel like this after losing my parents. I feel more alive now and if I hadn't met you or if never received this power, I'd probably be just an emotional shut in for the rest of my life. Thanks for always being by my side whenever I needed someone Karina." I said with a smile on my face.

Karina grabbed my hand and put her pinky finger around mine, "I want to make a promise to you Travis. From here on out I will do what I can to keep you safe, just like you do to keep me safe. I will always be there for you when you need someone to talk too, and even if no one wants to be your friend and others give up on you, I want you to know that I will always be right by your side." She said while smiling at me. I tightened my grip with my pinky finger as I said my promise.

"I will always protect you and watch over you. When you have nowhere to go and no one to turn to in your time of need, know that I will be right by your side at all times. As long as I'm near you won't have to suffer alone anymore. Don't ever feel like you can't tell me anything, I can always give you hope whenever you need it. I may not be a registered therapist but I will listen Karina, and I will care." For the first time in years I finally had a friend that I felt like I could trust to stay close to me. I just hoped that history would not repeat itself. It's taken me years to find a friend like Karina and if I lost her, I knew that it would shatter every little piece of me.

We got home a bit late and Karina went straight off to bed and I saw DJ, "Hello sir, how was your day today?" he asked me with a smile on his face. "Oh it was great. I took Karina out for the day to get a break from here. How've you been today? Any business today?" I asked. DJ shook his head and I took it to be a bad day for his business. Me and him sat down and talked about what Karina and I had done for the day and I told him how excited I was to finally feel like I could open myself up again to people. I did tell him that I still feel closed off from a lot of people but that I'm slowly working on it. I told him about my pinky promise with Karina on top of everything else today. I decided to go off to bed early and start Phantom hunting first thing in the morning. DJ told me he was going to stay up late tonight working on some new rings for me because he found a magical stone up in the attic that he had forgotten about.

"He forgot about a magical stone that he's had locked up for the past three years? I wonder what the ring will look like. Dragon has told me that there are four basic forms and I only have three: Flame, Land, and Water. So what other form am I missing?" I was so curious to know what the last form was and a bit excited as well. I finally stopped rolling about in my bed and fell asleep, and that night I realized that it would've been a night where I wished I didn't fall asleep at all.


	9. The Wild Girl

A few days have passed and I haven't been sleeping well at all. I kept having nightmares of my childhood past and the more my days were going on the worst they were becoming. I would wake up around two in the morning and stay up until the sun rose before falling back. How I was spending my nights would be me going out and patrolling Bowling Green in search of any Phantoms but to no avail. Tonight was now the third night and I rode out.

 **"** **Garuda, please."**

The Plamonster began putting itself together and I took my spell ring off and placed it on its chest. "Do me a favor and look for anything suspicious with me." I suggested to my familiar. It made a cawing noise, "Last night was Kraken's turn, and the day before that was Unicorn. Not my fault you lost that bet with the others. Let's also remember that you said you'd be okay with helping out tonight if Kraken took over." Garuda stopped fighting with me and began obeying my orders as it went off the opposite direction. I drove into town and people were just now leaving from the bars.

Not a lot of people were out because everyone was mostly gone because of it being summer break for them. "Only two more months till my birthday. I wonder if DJ and Karina will do anything for my birthday. I haven't celebrated my birthday since my parent's death. I've pretty much seen it as a day on a calendar since." A lot was going on my mind as the night went on. I even forgot I was supposed to be looking for Phantoms. While driving down the street and looking at the few people leaving the bars I noticed someone familiar. She had that red hair with black highlights in it but I could only see her from behind. She disappeared into an alley and I lost sight of her. "I think that was that Amber chick but then that would mean that there were survivors of that incident four months ago." I thought to myself. I took a right on a street and pulled into the parking lots where the girl was heading too. I got off my bike and ran towards the alleyway but not before I heard a scream which immediately took priority. I had to run down the street to the corner to see a black male running from the courthouse with ghouls chasing him.

One of the ghouls threw their spear and it just barely missed his shoulder. The man fell to the ground being surprised and the ghouls finally were hovering over him. I quickly ran up and grabbed the spear and used it to slash across one that was close to the man. I pushed with my two hands the ghoul to my left and back kicked the one to my right. Two more ghouls appeared and I scanned my ring.

 **"** **Driver On."**

I stood in front of the man, "Get somewhere safe. I'll make short work of these guys." I said to him. But before I flipped my levers I saw a bunch of snakes emerge from the left side of me and bit each ghoul. The ghouls quickly turned into stone and I turned around to see who did that to see a woman with a snake like face, dressed in purple, white, and some black streaks down her body. Her head was filled with snakes and five of them were the ones biting into the ghouls. The snakes that were biting the ghouls wrapped themselves around their victims and then crushed the statues into pieces. The snakes retracted back to the lady across the street and immediately got ready to fight, "This Phantom isn't like the others and I can tell just by looking at her that this is going to get messy." I thought. I pulled out my Land Ring and before sliding it on, the snake lady had vanished and I looked all over for her. While looking I noticed the black male was not at my side, "What the hell was this all about?" I didn't understand what had just happened. I ran across the street where the lady was and found a note on the grass, " _Don't worry Wizard. We aren't going to harm anyone tonight but be warned that if you begin to cause any problems for us we will eliminate you without fail. –Medusa."_ I put the letter in my pocket and ran back to my motorbike, "I kind of don't feel like going home. But the town is dead and I'm pretty sure there isn't anything to do here." I then remembered that Shawn was pretty much up on a Friday night so I took off to see him.

I took out my cellphone and called Shawn, "Hello you've called Shawn the Wizard Apprentice how can I help you?" He replied. I told him that it was me and was asking if I could stop by and spend the night, "Oh hell yea Master, come on by! I mean you don't need to ask to come over it is still your old house after all. I'll get your bed set up for you man." He quickly hung up the phone after that and I rode to my old house.

"I wonder how Shawn has adapted to that place." I thought to myself. Since the fight with Hellhound, Shawn's life had gotten even worse. The group home he was living in decided to kick him out onto the streets leaving him homeless and nowhere to go. He didn't tell me about this for a few days afterwards where I found him sleeping on a bench. So to make up for the things that I had done and said to him, I took him to my home and gave him a copy of the key. I told him as long as he kept the place clean he could live there and be treated as his own home. He's made some strides with my help to try and go back to high school so he could get his diploma. DJ was willing to get him a job at The Blade, which was soon to be called The Sentinel Tribune. I bought Shawn a bike so he could start work over the summer as well as hygiene products and food for the place until he got his first paycheck. I even gave him my bedroom in the place so he had an appropriate place to sleep.

I pulled up to the front of the house and walked up to the door. I walked inside the living room to see it was still left the way it was. Shawn walked out of my bedroom and greeted me, "Hey Master Travis!" Shawn said as he ran towards me bear hugging me. I shrugged him off, "You can drop the master. Just call me by my name Shawn." I said to him. I walked over to the couch and sat down looking at the ground.

"What's wrong Travis? I never really took you as a night owl and it's like almost four in the morning." Shawn knew that I wasn't feeling well but I couldn't tell him about the nightmares that I had been having. "I haven't been sleeping well lately. A lot kind of going on plus I just had a really weird night tonight. A group of ghouls were attacking this guy and I ran in to save him. But while fighting off the ghouls a phantom by the name of Medusa killed a few of them right in front of me. She had hair made up of snakes that were moving and when they bit into the ghouls they froze in place. She disappeared after destroying the ghouls and the guy I was protecting was nowhere to be seen. I feel like something big is about to happen but I'm not sure what it is." I said with concern.

Shawn stood up and walked over to a bookshelf that wasn't there before. He was looking through rows of books that he had acquired and one of them was book on mythical creatures. He brought it over to me and looked up Snake Haired Woman. He finally found a page where the title of the chapter was called: Medusa. "It says here the snakes on Medusa's head if you look at them or her eyes will petrify you. Or turn you into stone. There is no cure or way to revert people who have been turned to stone back. Some believe that Medusa is the only person that can break that spell that she has casted onto her victims." Shawn read aloud to me. He handed me the book over to me and I kept reading all I could on Medusa but there wasn't much information.

"So as long as I stay away from her snakes I should be fine. I made eye contact with her when we were across the street and nothing happened to me. Maybe this Medusa only petrifies you from the snakes on her head?" I finally put the book back on the white shelf, "Where did you get a bookshelf Shawn?" I asked. He was playing a video game on a device called the Gamecube, "There was a yard sell around the block and I got it for five dollars. Not a bad bookshelf the people were moving and were really trying to get rid of it." He seemed to be really into the game and I got a bit curious, "What are you playing over there?" I asked him.

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. First Harry Potter game that isn't fully animated I think. It's really cool but doesn't have full open world playability like the three before it. It's a Wizard game and a huge hit. There's seven books, eight movies, and a crap ton of video games based around it." He explained. I started to feel really tired and went to my old bedroom to sleep.

"I'm going to bed Shawn thanks for letting me stop on by." I said to him. Before I walked into my room Shawn stopped me with a question, "Hey can I ask you something?" I turned around to answer his question, "Yea anything." I said.

"Why did you go out your way to give me a place to stay? Why would you help someone like me out who is just annoying to everyone? There isn't anything special about me and I don't do anything but cause trouble as much as I try not to." Shawn said with a low voice.

"I gave you a place to stay because maybe I'm growing up. Ever since I became Wizard everything about me has begun to change. I feel like I want to help people no matter who they are, plus I was very harsh on you when we met. I'm still trying to find ways to work on my social issues I have and I didn't want the last thing I said to you if you had died all of those mean things. I have a lot to work on and I'm quickly realizing that I can't do it on my own. Yes you cause me and everyone a lot of trouble but you're not hurting anyone and all you want is a friend. There are a lot of things that make you special; you just have to find what it is on your own night Shawn." I walked into my room and shut the door as I lay down in my bed and tried to fall asleep.

A few hours had passed and my nightmare came back causing me to wake from my sleep sweating profusely, "Why am I remembering and dreaming of Mark now? I've been fine the last few years, so why am I remembering that horrible incident now." I was becoming angry and walked out into the living room to see Shawn passed out on the futon in the living room. I wanted to let him know that I was heading out but decided to let him sleep and quickly went outside. I hopped on the bike and rode off into town. I rode out to a park called Conneaut Park where there is a huge hill and once you stood at the top of it you can see the Wood County Hospital. It was about seven in the morning and the sun was just starting to rise up. "Maybe if I go there I'll probably be able to clear my head. Hanging out at a park always seems to clear my head." I parked my bike in the lot and jogged towards the base of the hill. I started my climb up the hill shortly after getting there and quickly made my way to the top. I sat underneath the tree looking out at the houses and the roads as cars began to pass by.

Listening to the birds chirp and the cool breeze was really soothing. The sound that nature was giving out caused me to take a nap underneath the tree and I was asleep for the next few hours. Even this nice and calm nap I was having didn't stop me from having the same nightmare replay over and over again. This time though I was having a hard time trying to wake up out of it. I didn't want to be reminded of my childhood, I didn't want to be reminded of what I did almost 8 years ago, and after my nightmare finally ended I was able to snap my eyes open to see a young girl's face hovering over mine.

I felt my head was lying on top of something which I quickly noticed was her lap. "Hey you finally calmed down. I tried to wake you up but nothing I did worked. Kind of glad because if you didn't you might've hurt yourself." The girl with red hair said. I was still a bit groggy but after realizing I wasn't dreaming anymore I knew who this girl was, "YOU!?" I said surprised as I quickly got up off the ground and looked around to see if I was still on the hill.

"I'm still at the park." I said. The girl who was Amber Wild got up off the ground and walked closer to me.

"You were shaking all about in your sleep and kept saying "I'm sorry Mark." Over and over again, guess you were having what is called a night terror." She said. Amber was standing right in front of me as she took a cloth out of her pocket and wiped my face, "You were crying too. Was it really that bad?" She finished wiping my face and I just stood there. She was the same red haired, white skin, green eyed girl who was a couple inches shorter than me and was also one of the missing people from the incident four months ago. I couldn't believe that Karina and I were now not the only survivors of what happened in the caves.

"What happened back at the caves? I thought you and everyone else died?" I asked curiously. Amber started looking around as if she was being paranoid about the group of people who were coming to the hill, "Do you have somewhere we can go, I'm being hunted by a monster." I quickly looked around to see if my bike was still at the parking lot and we headed down the hill.

"If she's being hunted by a Phantom than she must be a Gate. I'll take her back to DJ's and see if we can give her shelter there." We got to the bottom of the hill and right when we got near my bike all of the people who were coming to the park began screaming.

"MONSTER!" Someone said. I quickly turned around to see a kid get picked up by a giant cat like Phantom. The cat had yellow claws sticking out of its arms, with giant cat ears and on its furry chest was a weird emblem surrounded by four yellow ovals. "Is that the monster that's hunting you Amber?" I asked.

The cat looked at the kid's face, "You're not the girl that I'm after. But I wonder if you'll give birth to a Phantom if I throw you hard and far enough." The cat said. He then threw the girl as far as he could and I pulled out my Defend Ring and ran towards where she was going to land.

 **"** **Defend, defend, defend, defend, please."**

I was keeping my ring over my belt until I got where I need to be and then casted the spell. I shot the spell out onto the ground as I jumped into the air and grabbed the girl with my one hand. I landed on my spell circle so I didn't take any major harm falling onto the cement.

I looked at the little girl who was safe in my arms and unharmed as well, "Are you okay?" I asked. We both got up and this little girl gave me a hug before running off. I started walking towards the giant cat Phantom, "Wrong move there pal." I said with a bit of anger in my voice.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

I flipped the levers on my belt, "Transform." I said as I scanned my Water Style ring.

 **"** **Water, please. Water! Water! Water!"**

I ran through my blue spell circle and as soon as I did I flipped my levers again.

 **"** **Connect, please."**

I casted the spell circle next to me as I was running and pulled out my swordgun. "So you're the Ring Bearing Magician. Then you wouldn't happen to know where a red haired girl would be would you?" I didn't tell him but I did fire a bunch of bullets towards him. He began swiping at the bullets in a very quick succession, "You're bullets won't hit me if that's as fast as they can go Wizard." I was now up in his face and put my gun into sword mode. I went to stab his chest which he moved to the side. I turned my blade sideways and went to slice him but he grabbed the blade and brought down his claws to strike across my face. I was thrown backwards onto the ground.

My foot was immediately grabbed and I was thrown against the side of the tree. The monster then grabbed me by the throat and used his free hand to keep slicing at my chest and I was screaming as the pain started to get worse and worse. The cat finally let go of my throat and did rapid jabs into my chest before side kicking at my feet and then punching me through the tree. I rolled onto my stomach and I was having a hard time trying to get up. "Shit, that cat is too fast for me to react to anything. I wish there was a way I could at least stop his movements." I said. I stood up trying to get myself back in a fighting stance and then I saw the cat Phantom turn around to face Amber.

"Your fight is with me monster!" I yelled out to him. I started to stumble and move forward as I raised my sword and pulled back on the black thumb.

 **"** **C'mon slash and shake hands!**

 **Water, Slash Strike. Water! Water! Water!"**

I pulled on the trigger as a stream of water began wrapping itself around my blade. I sliced sideways sending a line of water going towards the Phantom. The Phantom stopped and spun around as the water was just inches away from him and swiped it back at me with his claws.

The water bounced back towards me and sent me flying backwards and I was forced to revert back to my human form. The pain was now all over my body and I had claw marks showing all over my shirt as well as blood streaming down my chest. I tried to get back up but was having a hard time because the pain was too much for me to bare. "Damn it! I can't move in time to do anything!" I was starting to get upset with myself, "If you want to save her meet us at the abandoned bowling alley on Main Street near Wal-Mart tonight at 8pm. If you don't this girl will die and it will be on your head Mage. The name is Cait Sith, remember that." I watched as Cait Sith slapped Amber across the face knocking her out and then sped so far all that I could see was a yellow blur, and Amber was gone as well.


	10. Blessed Wind

"AMBER!" I yelled as the creature sped away. I tried to get back up but fell back onto the ground as the pain in my chest was unbearable. I was looking around as everyone was gone from the fight. "I'm all alone…Again." I said to myself. I reached for my phone but couldn't find it, "I must've left it back at my home." I said getting upset. I also knew I didn't have my Connect ring on me so I was unable to retrieve my phone that way. I heard sirens blaring in the distance and I began to crawl and hunker down underneath some bushes that weren't too far from my location. Once I got there I saw one police car pull into the parking lot and a man in a blue uniform with dark brown hair get out of the car. The man was brown skin and looked to be a couple inches taller than me. He bent down at the scratch marks on the ground and then went over to inspect the broken tree near me.

He looked around in circles as if he was checking around his surroundings. He then took out a radio and his English accent was terrible but I was able to make out what he said with his Japanese accent, "Officer Kadoya reporting in. Whatever happened here we just missed it. I'm going to stay to investigate the crime scene a bit. We have a tree ripped and knocked over and some marks on the ground." Once he was done on the radio he just stood there in front of the bush and began whistling. A couple minutes had passed, "Well I guess it gets kind of boring when you're the only one here. It's a sad shame that no one is here to hang out with me. Makes me feel how you say? KIND OF LONELY!" The man said as he quickly turned around, grabbed me by my neck and threw my forward through the bush until I was on the ground lying right in front of him.

"You mind telling me what happened here Wizard or am I going to have to be rude." I somehow thought this guy would be a threat to me so I found the energy to stand up.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

My belt said as it extended out. The officer came up to me and used his foot to push me back to the ground and then he took that one foot and stood on my chest while using his other foot to keep my right arm on the ground, "GET OFF ME!" I yelled at him but having no energy to even throw his foot off me. "I think we got off on the wrong foot here my name is Tsukasa Kadoya. I'm like you, a Kamen Rider." I looked at him confused.

"What's a Kamen Rider? I'm a Masked Rider." I said to him. Tsukasa took his feet off me, "Wow you're not intelligent are you? Kamen Rider and Masked Rider is the same thing. You just translated Kamen into Masked." He started to walk towards the tree and placed his hands on the claw marks, "So did you get the Phantom or did he get away?" He asked.

"Cait Sith got away. He took someone I know hostage and I have to go free her." I said as I began stumbling towards my bike but kept falling onto the ground.

"Wow they don't name these monsters of the week like they used to. I think Fangire sounds a lot better than Phantom, and those guys are monsters from years ago." I didn't know what he was talking about but he finally stood in front of me and stuck his hand out, "Come with me, I'll take you home and you can rest up." He offered.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked. He looked at me with this cocky expression, "Well us _Masked_ Riders have to stick together right? As well as help each other in need. I mean you should know that better than anyone Mr. I'll Bring Hope to Everyone." He made a fair point and I reached out and grabbed his hand. When I did I saw a wall that was a tinted green with lines moving all over the place envelope us and once it moved through us I was outside DJ's place.

"What the?! How did you do this?" I said surprised. Tsukasa just smile as he helped me to the door and when I walked in Karina was the only one in the house. She was busy playing this game called Dance Dance Revolution and she paused it as she turned around to greet us. When she saw me all torn up she was over in a flash, "Travis what happened to you?! Here lay down on the couch I'll go get the first aid kit." She said as she hurried into DJ's work space and grabbed his kit. Tsukasa helped me lay down on the couch.

"Can you tell me where the kitchen is in this place?" He asked Karina. She directed him to it and he left the room. Karina took out some wipes and was wiping away the blood on my chest.

She put some band aides on the small wounds and when Tsukasa came back with a bowl of water and some paper towels she started using that to wipe up the dried blood stains off my body, "What happened to you bro? Who were you fighting this time?" She asked. I was having a bit hard of a time moving while my body was taking this moment to heal up.

"Karina…One of the members of the cave exploration survived. Amber Wild survived, maybe just like we did. She got taken by a Phantom and is a Gate. I need to get to Victory Lanes Bowling Alley before tonight otherwise I'll lose her…AGH!" I screamed on the last part as Tsukasa dumped some of the hydrogen peroxide on my chest, "I felt like doing that." He said with a smile. I looked at him with anger on my face, "I don't know why I want to say you're the fricking devil but I really want to right now." Tsukasa looked at me with an annoyed face, "Oh please not this crap again."

I watched Tsukasa walk over to my Ring Chest and shuffle through it, "Wow you have a lot of gimmick items you use. How do you even fight with something like this when all you can carry is maybe six at a time while transformed?" He asked. "While I'm transformed if I need a ring, it will appear on my ring holder replacing the ring that was there to begin with." I said sitting up as Karina was wrapping bandages around my chest. I tried to get up but I felt a hand grab mine and twist it to my back as I felt a ring being slid on my finger. When I looked at it was the one I found in Shawn's Underworld, "You haven't used this ring yet? Why?" Tsukasa asked.

I don't know how he knew which ring I've used but I didn't question him on that, "I'm not sure. I don't think it will be all that useful." I said. I tried to get back up and Tsukasa took my hand with the ring on it and placed it over my belt.

 **"** **Sleep, please."**

A snoring sound came out of the belt and I watched as my eyes quickly closed and I fell into a deep sleep. Before I fell asleep I heard Tsukasa say, "Huh seems useful to me."

A few hours have passed and I woke up from my sleep to see that I was in my bed I looked at my spell ring seeing the Sleep Ring still on my finger. "I might make use of you when I have a hard time sleeping." I said to it. I looked at my clock and saw that it was 7:55 PM. I quickly hopped out of bed and ran to put on my shirt and then I felt the pain in my chest, "My wounds still hurt but I have to get to the bowling alley. I'm not going to let Amber die." I kept running around the room grabbing my clothes and putting them on and when I went to grab my black coat I saw one new transformation ring and one new spell ring. The transformation ring was a green weird cut stone and the spell one was a blue stone that had the picture of a dragon falling in a hole. I picked up the spell ring and scanned it.

 **"** **Fall, please."**

My belt said as a red spell circle appeared beneath my feet. I fell through the floor and landed safely on the floor, "I have some interesting ideas for this ring." I said.

I needed to leave without attracting attention. I walked up to the kitchen door to hear Tsukasa and Karina talking, "I'll take the back door." I said. I checked my pockets to see what rings I had, "Okay so I have Connect, Driver On, Defend, and my new transformation ring as well as Flame Style." Knowing what I had I ran out the back door and used my Connect Ring to grab my bike. I put on my black helmet and revved up my bike as I went down the street towards the abandoned bowling alley.

It didn't take me long to get to the alley, I parked behind back as I began looking for a way in. I found ladders leading up to the roof and decided to use my new spell to get in that way. I began climbing the ladder and right before I got up to the top, the bars that were holding the ladder to the building began to break apart and I watched as the ladder started to get farther from the building. I quickly jumped off the ladder and grabbed on the side of the building with one hand, "Maybe next time I'll break a window or something." I thought to myself. I used that one hand to pull myself up far enough so I can reach the end of the roof and hoist myself up onto the building. I rolled over and began breathing heavily. I looked at my phone to see it was ten minutes after, "I need to hurry up." I said. I took out my ring and scanned it.

 **"** **Fall, please."**

The red circle appeared beneath my feet and I fell through the roof and landed safely at the front door inside the building.

I looked around the room to see all of the lights off and I walked over to the doors to find a light switch, "There has to be a light switch around here somewhere." I said. I was having a hard time finding one and then all of the lights quickly turned on. I turned around to see Amber lying in the middle of the building with blood running down her arms and legs. Her eyes were closed and her body looked like it was thrown into the room, "AMBER!" I yelled out as I began running towards her. I came to a quick stop as I heard something zooming through the air. I looked to my left and saw a bowling ball coming towards me. I leaned back a few inches as the ball zoomed past me just missing me by mere inches.

"Oooh I guess that's what I would call a foul ball." A man said stepping out of the dark area of the building. It was the black man that was being hunted by the ghouls the other night.

I watched as he kept taking a few more steps towards me, "Hello Travis. We didn't introduce ourselves. My name is Leonard Wells. You may not know me but I'm the man you tried to save the other night by Ghouls. You fancy a game? They may have abandoned this building but everything still runs just fine. How about this, if you can beat me in a game of bowling I will let you have that girl. Don't worry she's still breathing but I kind of ruffed her up a bit. She has a tough body for someone so small." I felt something was off by this guy but I was able to piece everything together.

"Your Cait Sith aren't you?" I asked. I watched as the man crossed his arms and then uncrossed them.

"Your smart aren't you? Yes I am Cait Sith. I've been Cait Sith for the past eight months now. You see I was going to catch you unexpected that night but as you can see another Phantom wanted you alive and kind of put a damper on my plans. But that's okay because nothing is going to save you tonight, especially since I have a hostage." He said as he leered at Amber.

"She's a cute thing, with that little body. Kind of petite she is. Do you know what my Gate Leonard was famous for here in Bowling Green?" He asked me as I prepared myself to fight. I blinked and he was immediately gone and when I looked around the room I saw him standing over Amber's body. He picked her up and wrapped one hand around her neck for support and took his other hand and started rubbing her chest, "I was known as a child molester. I just loved having my ways with girls in high school. Something about taking the virginity from a young girl was just pleasurable to me." I felt anger beginning to form inside me.

"YOU DROP HER THIS INSTANT! IF YOU TOUCH HER I'LL KILL YOU!" I yelled at him. Cait Sith let go of her throat as she fell to the ground.

"You'll kill me? That's hilarious since I can outrun you for days. This girl put up a fight to protect her virginity to the point it caused me to lash out on her until she ended up like this." Anger kept building and then in an instant Cait Sith was standing right in front of me, "If you think you can stop me then let's see you do it." He said. I watched as he transformed in front of me and then open palmed me sending me fly backwards until I hit the wall.

After hitting the wall I fell onto the ground in pain as this monster hit directly on my wounds. I watched as the cat like creature walked over to me and grabbed my leg and shoulder, did a spin, and threw me onto the bowling lanes where I kept rolling until I was right next to Amber. I looked at her as I saw all the blood covering her ripped clothes and her skin that looked a bit pale, "Amber…Wake up."

I said stretching my hand out and tapping her cheeks. She wasn't waking up, "Do you know another way to create a Phantom from Gates? You kill them. Once a Gates heart stops beating the Phantom inside will take full control. So here's what we are going to do Travis. We are going to play a game. If you think you can beat me then we shall play keep away. You can transform right where you are and you are to keep me from touching Amber. If I get one touch on her I will cut off her head. If you beat me then you are free to leave of course the only way you are leaving here is if you kill me."

I began to ignore the pain that Cait Sith had left on me as I stood up.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

I slid my Flame Style ring on my finger, "Like I said earlier you touch her and I'll kill you. Unlike other Phantoms where I just kick them till they explode, I'll slash your entire body to little pieces. If I can't do that then I'll unload a lot of bullets into your fricking skull. You won't get away with what you've done here and I'll be going after you with everything I got." I flipped the levers on my belt, "Transform." I said as I scanned my ring over my belt.

 **"** **Flame, please. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

A red circle began to move through my body and I had my swordgun at the ready. I put my sword in gun mode and began firing bullets towards Cait Sith. I watched as he began dodging each bullet using his fast speed then sped towards me. I quickly put my gun in sword mode and slashed in front of me where I thought he would've gone but instead he was behind me and kicked my back leg causing me to fall forward then grabbed the end of my cape where he threw me upward where I hit the ceiling. While falling I saw his claws begin to glow and when I was falling he spun around and smacked me with his glowing claws and I was sent flying to the other side of the bowling alley. Once I hit the wall and before I landed on the ground, Cait Sith was already there and grabbed me by my throat and slammed my body onto the ground.

I almost blacked out from the pain and then he released his hold on my throat. Cait Sith then put his foot under my body and flipped me up into the air. I watched as he punched me in the gut and that sent me flying until I hit some chairs. I wrapped my arms around the chairs trying to keep myself from falling to the ground and trying to deal with the pain coursing through my entire body. Cait Sith was once again standing in front of me and began slashing at my chest multiple times and then grabbed my face, "You're a poor excuse of a hero. I don't know how you were able to beat Minotauros, Arachnid, and Hellhound. It's almost like you don't know how to fight. Especially in close combat. I'm a lot weaker than the three you battled yet I already have you on your knees. How do you expect to save anyone if you can't even save yourself?" He said. He tightened his grip on my head piece and threw me over his head and slammed me hard onto the ground.

When I landed on the ground he stomped on my chest multiple times and then I reverted back to my human form, "I guess you lose Ring Bearing Magician." I was having a hard time even moving my arms and then Cait Sith picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. He began walking over to Amber's body and a few feet from her body he threw me on the ground. Blood was streaming down my face, my clothes ripped and deep bruises all over my body. Some areas on my body were swollen as well as the entire body being extremely sore. He reverted back to his human form and walked over to Amber's collapsed body, "Get…Away from her…Now…" I said watching him creep closer to her. He sat on top of her stomach and began rubbing his hands down her face.

"You know what I always wanted to experience Travis? Watching a girl completely helpless wake up to see a random stranger penetrating her and being absolutely helpless to do anything about it."

I watched as Cait Sith ripped her shirt off exposing her bra, "STOP IT! LEAVE HER ALONE! DON'T TOUCH HER!" I yelled. I began swearing at him as I felt powerless to do anything. I couldn't stop this monster from having his way with Amber and I watched as he started to remove the jeans she was wearing and right before he removed her underwear a bullet went flying and Cait Sith quickly transformed in order to take the bullet. He rolled backwards away from Amber and when I looked at the direction of where the sound came from I saw Tsukasa pointing his gun towards the Phantom and he wasn't alone.

"Bro!" I heard Karina say as she began running towards me. Cait Sith tried to move but Tsukasa kept firing bullets at him as if he knew where he'd be moving to and his bullets didn't miss their mark, "I think you've done enough damage here. You guys go get Travis and the girl, I'm going to take care of the monster until Travis gets back on his feet to fight." He said. This time it wasn't just Karina who came to my aid, but DJ, Robin, and Shawn. All of them ran to me and Amber. Robin and DJ went to grab Amber as Shawn and Karina came to help me, "Master are you okay?" Shawn asked me.

I couldn't believe my friends came to help me, "Why are you guys here? How did you find me?" I asked.

"Tsukasa found out you weren't in your room so we called Robin and Shawn to help look for you. While all of us were looking for you Robin found your bike parked at the bowling alley and all of us grouped here. You're going to be okay Tsukasa will handle the monster." Karina said.

I was placed onto one of the booths and Amber was put on the booth next to me, "I didn't think you guys would help me. Thanks so much." I said happy to see my friends here. Robin and Shawn as well as Karina held their rings up for me to see, "When we had no one to save us you came for us. A complete stranger saved our lives. You became my first friend." Karina said. "You saved my life and because of you my mom and I can live to see another day." Robin said. "You saved my life from that TV host, you gave me a home when I lost mine, and you became my first friend I had in a long time. You inspired me to better myself as a person. Without you our lives would have not gotten any better." Shawn said. DJ stood in front of me as he handed me two new spell rings, "Travis you put your life on the line for everyone present here. You fight to keep people's hopes alive, I think it's time we paid you back for all the hard work you do." He said as he put the rings down in front of me. For once in my life I felt crying.

I grabbed the new rings and got up out of the booth, "Bro let Tsukasa handle this. You're too injured to fight." Karina said worried. I felt my adrenaline run throughout my body that I had a hard time feeling the pain. I began walking till I was standing right next to Tsukasa, "Cait Sith, it's time you see what I can actually do." I said to him. "Let's do this Travis." Tsukasa said. I watched as he lifted a belt buckle that was white with some weird symbols surrounding a red dot in the middle of the belt. He placed the belt on his stomach and the belt straps formed. He then pulled the sides of the buckle as a sound was made. He then pulled a card out with the picture of a pink mask with black bars in his face along with green bug eyes, "Who do you think you are pretty boy?" Cait sith asked.

"I'm just a passing through Kamen…Masked Rider. Remember that. Henshin." He flipped his card over and put it inside his belt and then pushed the sides of his belt back to their original position.

 **"** **Kamen Ride: Decade."**

Then it was my turn.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

I pulled out my green ring, "It's over for you. I'll make your death as painful as possible. Transform." I pushed the face guard down and scanned my ring.

 **"** **Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform, Hurricane, please. Air! Air! Air! Air!"**

My belt said. A green circle formed above my head and then moved through my body. All of my armor was replaced with a green stone and my head piece shape was different as well as it being green. Nothing else had really changed as much.

Tsukasa had these images of his Rider form surrounded him and then they came together. His body was mostly pink with a black slanted cross on his chest that went over his left shoulder and down his chest was black armor. His right leg was black on the front and white on the side, and his left leg was black on the front and pink on the side. His left arm white while the other side was black. At his hip was something like a white book with a black stripe across it. He pulled it out and turned it into a sword.

"It's showtime Cait Sith." I said. I took a step forward and Cait Sith was already gone. He came up behind me and Tsukasa as he kicked my back causing me to fall on the ground and kicked Tsukasa down the bowling lane. I watched as Cait Sith's hands began glowing and I jumped in the air. When I did green aura began swirling around me and I was floating off the ground, "Holy crap I'm floating! This could be useful." I thought. I summoned out my swordgun and pulled back on the hand.

 **"** **Hurricane, Slash Strike! Air! Air! Air!"**

I flew down as quick as I could up to Cait Sith and went to slice him but he used his claws to stop my blade from cutting through him. I kept pushing as hard as I could and he wasn't moving from his spot, "I can't keep this up! Tsukasa!" I called out. I watched as he got back up and took out another card and pulled open his belt buckle.

 **"** **Attack Ride: Blast."**

I watched as his sword went into gun mode and he shot at the Phantom's legs but our enemy was smarter and jumped high up over my head.

When he was over my head he grabbed me my arm and threw me hard onto the ground. My attack went into the floor leaving a mark on the lane. Once I hit the ground he landed on top of me. Tsukasa ran towards him to get him off of me but the cat only sped over to him and slashed him across the chest then came back to me and lifted me off the ground. When my ally got off the ground I was immediately thrown at him knocking him back onto the ground. "Quick question, do you always get owned by your enemies like this? Because if you do, you're by far the worst rider I've ever seen." Tsukasa said to me as we stood back up. "Normally the monsters I fight don't have super speed and I'm able to keep up with them. If I could slow down his movements I could get a clean shot in." I said getting upset at how this fight was going.

"Travis I gave you new rings so use them!" I heard DJ call out to me. I then had an idea. "Tsukasa can you keep him busy I got some new spells to test out." I asked. He quickly ran towards him to fight and was doing a lot better than I was at keeping up with his pace. I finally grabbed my Light ring, "Can't move as fast if you can't see." I thought. I went to flip my levers to use my spell when I heard something from where my friends were, "TRAVIS HURRY AMBER'S WOUNDS OPEN AND SHE'S LOSING TO MUCH BLOOD." I heard Karina yell out. I couldn't waste any more time now, "Tsukasa keep your back to me, everyone else cover your eyes!" I demanded. I flipped the levers.

 **"** **Light, please."**

My belt said. I flicked my wrist and light began to illuminate everything around us and Cait Sith became blind.

I then took out another ring that had the picture of a dragon face with what looked like chains on it. I watched as Cait Sith tried to run around while being blind and I flipped my levers again.

 **"** **Lupacchi Magic Touch to Go!**

 **Bind, please."**

Sounds of chains echoed and I raised my hand towards Cait Sith as he stood and got over from being blinded by the light. When he did six green spell circles surrounded him and green chains erupted out of them and wrapped themselves around his entire body making him unable to move. "Tsukasa he's mine to take down." I took out another spell ring that had a silver dragon face on it with three others like shadows. I flipped my levers again and scanned the ring,

 **"** **Copy, please."**

I had a green spell circle appear around my hand and I placed it on my left shoulder and moved my hand in a straight line to my right shoulder.

I now had three exact replicas of me standing with their swordguns out. I commanded all of us to pull back on the thumb and scan our Hurricane rings as we began walking closer to Cait Sith. "I can't move! Damn these chains!" He said. All four of us got closer to him and the third replica went up and did an uppercut slash, the second did a mid-slash, the first one did a hip to opposite shoulder slash sending Cait Sith to fly up in the air. He hit the ceiling.

 **"** **Hurricane Slash Strike!"**

"I almost killed you! I almost had you!" Cait Sith yelled as fell towards me. "The finale." I said. I raised my blade that had the green aura wrapping itself around my sword and thrust upwards as Cait Sith's throat fell on the tip of my blade. When it did the wind in my blade went through his entire body and I swung my sword down as I sent his body soaring to the wall and an explosion was made.

I reverted back to my human form and began stumbling towards Amber. I took out a phone and started dialing 911 to get an ambulance, "Amber just hold on. Just…Hold…" I no longer could stand as my adrenaline finally gave out and I fell onto the ground. I could hear all of my friends running towards me and once again my vision was fading to black.


	11. Amber's Feelings

A few days had passed and I awoke at the hospital in town. My wounds pretty much healed but still had some soreness on my chest. I looked over to see Tsukasa sitting in a chair and to my right, Amber lying next to me in the bed all cuddled up against me. I didn't know what was going on or what to do in this situation, but I was happy to see Amber was okay. I rubbed my hands through her hair and she tried to bury her face into my side. "I'm glad to see you're okay." I whispered into her ear. I heard a knock on the door and then it opened, "Hello Travis? Your friends showed up. Are you awake?" the nurse said.

I saw Karina, DJ, and Shawn walk into the room, "Travis!" Karina and Shawn said excitedly as they rushed to my side. This woke Amber and Tsukasa up, "Ugh what's with all the loud noise?" Amber said as she started stretching. The doctor was a little peeved at the fact that Amber was lying in bed with me.

"Now look miss I've told you for the past twenty four hours that you can't keep sleeping in the patient's bed. They have that for their own comfort." Amber had a frown on her face as she begun to hop out of the bed. I grabbed her hand and stopped her, "Doc she's okay. I normally enjoy having someone lay next to me. I feel more comfortable that way when sleeping." I suggested to him. The doctor understood and laid out some food in front of me before leaving. "How long have I been out?" I asked looking around the room.

"Three days Master." Shawn quickly responded. Karina looked at me.

"I was hoping you'd be up because it's been about a day late since I need mana restoration." She said shyly.

I looked at Amber and Tsukasa, "Can you guys not say anything about what you're going to see?" I asked. Both of them nodded as I grabbed Karina's hand, sat up straight, and scanned the ring over my belt.

 **"** **Please, please."**

An orange mist came out of my belt and moved up Karina's body and I remember seeing Amber's eyes light up. "What are you doing to her?" She asked. I told her about how two times a week I have to give Karina mana in order for her to live.

After giving Karina mana, sometime had passed since everyone gathered as we were talking about my fight with Cait Sith. I told Amber that I was given powers from touching a red stone during the cave exploration and everything that happened up to this point. I told her about the different forms I've acquired and how my friends have helped me in different ways of me growing up. "I'm still new at helping people but I'm not seeing it as a bad thing. It's actually pretty interesting because I feel like I'm making an impact on their lives. Also, to all of you, thanks for being there for me back at the bowling alley." Tsukasa then got out of his chair and walked up to me.

"Hey can we go somewhere? I want to talk to you privately." The look in his eyes seemed like he was disturbed by something I've done so I said okay and we walked down the hall. "Let's go somewhere a bit more secluded." He said. He held out his hand and I grabbed it as the green wavy barrier went through us and on the other side we were at a ravine and standing next to a flowing stream.

"Where are we?" I asked. I looked around but couldn't find Tsukasa anywhere. I saw movement by the tree and began walking towards it, "Tsukasa! Are you there?" I said now being ten feet from the tree. I touched the tree and looked around it to see something carved into it, "Behind." I said confused. I heard footsteps and rolled to the left as I saw Tsukasa hit the tree. "Whoa! What the hell are you doing?" I said surprised. Tsukasa used his left leg and high kicked my shoulder and then came in with a right hook. I grabbed his fist and lifted my right leg to kick him in the chest causing him to stumble backwards, "Wow so you actually know how to block and defend without using your Defend Ring. Where was that against Cait Sith?!" He said as he launched another fist at me which I dodged the same way but because I was focused on his fist I didn't see his foot come and kick me in the hip. I fell down a bit and then the right hook came across my face. I fell to the ground as some blood was coming out of my nose.

"I've fought Riders who actually knew how to fight outside of their Henshin, I've fought Riders who knew how to fight while transformed, but you're just so weak compared to the rest. Like seriously, how have you survived this long without being dead. Maybe I should've left you to die three days ago against Cait Sith because all I did was try to help you in that fight and you just blew me off. The only people who you seemed to care about were your friends but not me?! Here I thought I was the biggest asshole in Rider history, but boy you sure showed me up right?" Tsukasa yelled as he stood over me. I started to get angry at him and took my foot as sweeped his left leg causing him to fall over. He uses his hands to stop his fall and got back up as soon as I did. "You're just a child Travis, and until you realize the shit you went through I'm not taking you home. So get ready Wizard." He pulled on his belt that was already around his stomach.

 **"** **Kamen Ride: Decade."**

Tsukasa transformed and I got up with my belt already ready for battle, "If this is how it's going to be then so be it. Transform." I said pulling down the faceguard on my Flame Ring.

The red circle formed in front of me and I ran through it and on the other end came out my sword. I slashed at Tsukasa but he blocked it by parrying my blade, he then grabbed my blade with his hand and pulled me towards him. He moved his blade away from mine and sliced me across the chest causing me to fall backwards. "Let's see how well you do against multiple of me." I said challenging him. I pulled out my Copy Ring and flipped the levers, I watched as he took out a card, "You think I'll let you?" He said assured.

I flipped my levers and he pulled back on his belt.

 **"** **Attack Ride: Slash."**

His blade began emanating a glow and before I could even put my ring on he slashed forward sending an energy blade straight at me. The attack landed sending me flying now I was getting more frustrated.

"This is how you lose or almost lose all of your fights Wizard. You are not FOCUSED, you're enemies see this and will take advantage of it. Right now I can tell your upset because you are losing this fight. You want to prove me wrong so badly don't you? Well that's your second flaw: Anger and uncontrolled emotions. You need to go into these fights with somewhat of a cleared head. If you go in with a clear head then you'll be able to think better and even fight better." He explained. I finally flipped my levers as I got back up off the ground.

 **"** **Copy, please."**

A red spell circle quickly passed by me as I created three more of me. We all ran towards Decade who took out another card, "I guess the only way to show you how to fight is if I was you." He said as he pulled back his belt.

 **"** **Form Ride: Wizard."**

I saw my spell circle appear in front of his belt and move through him as I saw myself standing in front of me. He still had his normal sword and used it to fight the oncoming clones of mine. My first clone came in with his sword slashing but Tsukasa dodged to the left but still standing in his same position and when my clone came at a slash for his chest, Tsukasa dodged to the left and slashed across his hip. My clone stumbled back and the other two came around the first clone ready to thrust their swords into his chest but Tsukasa pulled back on the belt and then ran at the tree behind him. He ran up the tree and back flip off of it as he landed right behind my clones.

 **"** **Final Attack Ride: Flame Slash Strike."**

His sword began to turn bright red and he sent the flame towards them causing them to explode.

I pulled on my black thumb of my sword and scanned my ring, "Let's see if you can try that with me." I said.

 **"** **Flame Slash Strike!"**

My sword said and Tsukasa just reinserted the card. His sword began forming flames like mine and we ran at each other. I came at him with a high cut and when I lowered my blade down to his head, he dodged by spinning in a circle around my attack. He was now behind me as my blade came down sending a trail of fire for a good amount of distance and I felt his blade slash at my back which caused me to fly five feet away from where I was standing and before I hit the ground I reverted back to my human form. Tsukasa reverted back to his human self and walked over to me.

"When you allow your emotions to control you during a fight you allow yourself to be an open book to your opponents. I already know all about you when I came to this world. Granted Cait Sith had enhanced speed but he was able to get inside your head which is why your ass was getting kicked at that fight. Your style of fighting is just all about how you can cause much pain and damage in a short amount of time that you have. There is no strategy, backup plan, or anything is there? By now you should already know how to fight using the power you have. No simple monster should be able to overpower you."

I looked down at the ground disgusted with myself, "He's right. I let my opponents get into my head. Minotauros had connections to my parents, Hellhound had Shawn really close to despairing than anyone I've tried to save, and Cait Sith had not only overpowered me but was willing to rape someone I was trying to save. Cait Sith knew off my first expression where my state of mind was and took advantage of that. If I had kept my head calmed I should've been able to deal with that fight better. Arachnid is the only exception because I didn't know what I was getting myself into and was stronger than I anticipated. Tsukasa is right on the fighting part as well. I should be much stronger than this but I use my spells to cover up my ability to fight. I've known for a while that I was going to have to get better. Maybe I should find a teacher in Bowling Green that will teach me how to fight better." I looked back up at Tsukasa and got off the ground.

"Your right about everything, I do not think straight in these fights and I'll find a way to figure a way around this. I have a couple of ideas on how to get better and I'm sorry for the asshole I've been to you after everything you've done to me." I said reaching my hand out to him.

He grabbed my hand with his, "A Rider is nothing without his friends or some type of network. You need to break yourself out of the shell you're in and allow people to help you. You spend a lot of time helping others, at least let someone help you when you need it. You've got a good network of friends don't lose them. Let's go home." He said. A green barrier moved through us and I was back at the hospital. Upon coming back I saw Amber with DJ out in the hall walking up to me. When I looked around I didn't see Tsukasa anywhere but a letter was in my hand and I decided to read it later. "Hey Amber how are you feeling now?" I asked her. She had a bright smile on her face and she ran up and hugged me. I looked up at DJ, "I need to find a way to get better at fighting. I want to be a better fighter so I don't have what's been happening with me keep occurring." I said.

DJ opened his wallet and pulled out a card, "A good friend of mine runs his own dojo in town. Go to him and learn how to fight, mention me and he'll give you a discount." I looked at the name on the card, "Marshall Lee. I'll check up on this later." I said to myself.

Apparently Amber was looking for the bathroom and DJ was being the guide making sure she'd be okay. DJ left her in my care as he headed back to my room and I walked down the hall, "I didn't know you were the masked hero that's been rumored around town." She said to me. I was kind of shocked because I tried my best to hide my identity, "How did you know?" I asked worried. She grabbed my hand, "When my wounds reopened I had a moment to see you revert back before you fell over. I'll keep your secret safe so you don't need to worry about a thing." I was relieved to hear her say that and we finally got to the bathrooms. She walked in and I waited outside for her. I started thinking back on the things

Tsukasa said and pulled out his letter and began to read it, "You have a lot to work on as a Masked Rider, but I feel like you'll get there. Also if we ever meet up and fight side by side again you better Rider Kick with me on the monster because that was bullcrap for us to not do it to Cait Sith. Also something about that entire set up with Cait Sith seemed suspicious. Be careful Wizard. Signed, a passing through Kamen Rider, remember that." I folded up his letter and put it back in my pocket.

Amber walked out of the restroom, or more like stumbled out. "Are you okay Amber? You don't look so good." She had her hands up on her head like she was having a headache. She begun to collapse to the floor and I quickly grabbed her, "Amber! Hey wake up!" She was kind of breathing a bit heavy and her forehead was burning up. I kept one arm on her back and then I used my other arm to support her legs and carried her back to my hospital room. When we got inside everyone was talking and by the sounds of it was making plans on what we should do when I was discharged. I quickly laid Amber on my bed ignoring them and called the nurse, "Master what happened?" Shawn asked. I told him about how she just collapsed and before I could get any other word in the doctors came running into the room checking up on her.

"She isn't fully healed from her wounds. Her body is small than it should be at her age and it takes a while for it to recover." The doctor said. He looked at me and had a nurse hand me a clipboard which was my discharge papers.

Karina came up to me, "Hey we were all thinking of going to the buffet place over by Krogers. DJ was going to pay and we could have Robin come with us too. Would you be up for it?" She said cheerfully. I told them I'd meet them there and I wanted to stay near Amber to make sure she was okay. Everyone ended up leaving one after the other but Shawn stayed behind, "Mast…Travis, sorry I'll work on that. You saved her life I don't think you'll need to be here anymore, I doubt the Phantoms will hunt her down." I knew that Shawn meant well but something told me to stay.

"Shawn, remember when Cait Sith attacked her? She was almost raped by a monster. I can relate to that pain because of my childhood. I'm not sure what it is but I feel like staying here until she wakes up at least." I explained. Shawn understood and like always he didn't think before he spoke.

"So you love her huh?" I didn't know what to say to that. Shawn left the room and the doctor walked towards me, "You a friend of hers?" He asked. I said yes and said I'd wait on her to get better before I left.

The doctor told me that to let her rest a few hours and she should be all set for discharge. I thanked him for all his efforts. I then walked over and sat down next to Amber. She was asleep and her breathing more calm. She was twitching a bit, "So she has night terrors as well. I wonder what her life has been like since the cave exploration." I placed my hands on hers and she started to calm down. I was wondering how I would pass the time and then I saw a bag next to me with a note that had my name on it. I looked into the bag and saw a book so I started to read it. The book was called The Howling Moon a werewolf book series. I began reading it to pass some time and a few hours later Amber woke up. "That book sucks." She said tired.

I put the book down and grabbed her hand, "How are you feeling?" I asked her. She kept blinking her eyes a lot and then started stretching, "Better than I was when you found me." Sometime had passed as I got the doctor and he did a check up on her.

"Everything appears stable with her and once you sign these papers you are all set to go home Ms. Wild." The doctor said handing her the clipboard. She signed the paper and then got out of bed. Her legs were shaking a bit and she looked like she was going to collapse. She reached her arms out to me, "Can you help me with the walking?" She asked. I walked over and tried to support her but instead she wrapped her arms around my right side and leaned up against me, "This is more comfortable for me." She said.

While walking out of the hospital I heard someone talking, "I do hope my friends will be happy." A voice said. Right after hearing the voice something shoulder bumped me and I looked all over the place but didn't see anyone. "It's almost as if I bumped into a ghost." I thought to myself. I kept looking around but I didn't see anyone, "There isn't anyway people can be ghosts. I think I'm just hearing things." I looked at Amber after shaking off the fact that I thought I bumped into someone, "Want me to take you home?" I asked. She looked down and there was this feeling she was giving off that made me think she didn't feel safe going home.

I took out a ring from my pocket, "Well my bike isn't here so give me a sec to get it and I'll take you to my place for the time being." I slid the ring on my finger and scanned it over my belt.

 **"** **Connect, please."**

A red circle appeared in front of us and I reached in and pulled out my bike. Amber had a big cute smile on her face and began clapping her hands, "That's really cool! Can you do another trick?" She said excitingly.

I had us get on the bike, "Not here. I don't like showing off my powers in big public places unless I need to." She wrapped her arms around my waist and placed her head up against my back, "Um why are you holding onto me like this?" I asked her. She told me that she felt safe being near me which is something she hadn't felt in a long time. I put on my helmet and we drove off back to DJ's. On my way to DJ's we were passing by Grounds for Thought and Amber was tapping my shoulder, "I'm a bit hungry." She said.

"I'm hungry too let's stop and get a snack real quick." I turned right at an intersection and went down Grove street about half a block and then pulled into the coffee store parking lot. I checked to make sure I had my wallet and then helped Amber walk into the store. We made our way up to the register and Rachel was working, "Oh Travis! I heard about you being in the hospital are you doing alright now?" She asked cheerfully. I told her I was okay and how I got injured protecting Amber from a group of people who were following her near Varsity Lanes a few nights back.

"So is she going to be your girlfriend now? You don't just sit here and protect a helpless girl and not expect anything in return." She said jokingly. I was kind of blushing and Rachel saw that, "Oooh your lighting up like a Christmas tree over there. Well hey let me commemorate a new donut for you lovebirds. I call it the Love Donut." Rachel put on a plate a donut with red and white frosting smeared, with heart sprinkles and on one end a blue frosting with a line going to the middle, and on the other side a pink frosting with line doing the same thing. "What's up with the blue and pink lines?" Amber asked.

Rachel got even more excited, "Oh well cutie what you do is the man starts at the blue line as the woman starts at the pink one and they eat together until they got the middle of the donut. It's an idea I came up with myself for couples who come in here. Since this is a college town and almost everyone is in a relationship I thought this would be a great idea to attract customers. Plus this donut will only cost $1, instead of $1.50." I went to pay for the donut, "I think I'll actually try something different than my Plain Sugar for once." I said.

Rachel just beamed with happiness as she finally got me to try a new donut and the fact that I didn't turn her down for once. She ended up giving me a Plain Sugar for free. Amber ended up getting a vegetarian sandwich that had lettuce, onion, cucumbers, mayo, and tomato on whole wheat bread. We were sitting outside on the tables in front of the restaurant as I watched Amber eat her sandwich and I was staring at the Love Donut, "So do you like me?" Amber asked. It broke my concentration.

"I don't even know you." I said to her. Amber put her sandwich down, when she did I started looking at her entire body, her white skin, innocent face, tinted green eyes, freckles on her cheeks, and this flowing red hair was all very appealing as well as distracting. Amber grabbed the Love Donut and walked around the table until she was in front of me. When she was standing in front of me she sat on one of my legs and put her left arm around my shoulder. She was now face to face with me, "Maybe this will give me an answer." She said teasing me.

Her entire facial feature changed from normal to seductive. "I'm going to put my mouth on the pink end of this donut and I'll want you to put your mouth on the other end. This will be you saying you have feelings for me, if you don't then push the donut away from your face using a finger." She said. She put the pink end of the donut in her mouth and leaned in closer to me, "The entire atmosphere has changed and I'm not sure at all what was going on anymore. I could feel my heart beating a mile a minute.

"I need to think of what I'm going to do now. I need to act quick." I thought to myself. I began going through a pro's and cons list and that wasn't even helpful. I decided to say screw it and I went to put my mouth on the donut. Right before I did, the donut fell onto my lap because Amber let it fall, and she leaned in and kissed me on my lips. She now put her other arm around my neck and I kept kissing her as a huge spark was flying throughout my entire body. I had never felt something like this before and I wrapped my arms around her as I pulled her in closer. I was trying to keep her close for I felt like if I didn't I would lose her somehow. She finally stopped attacking my lips and gave me this girly smile at me, "So was it that bad? Do you like me now?" She asked.

My mind was all over the place from my first kiss. I almost didn't want it to end, "That was…Really something…Shoot um, I guess I wouldn't mind dating you." I said. Amber leaned in closer to my face again as she kissed me again, "Good answer." She said seductively. I wanted to take her back to DJ's to let everyone know the news but before we even got up I heard people running down the street. Amber and I ran to where a bunch of people were panicking and screaming about a monster with a giant two handed sword attacking people and burning a house down. "Hey can you wait here for me Amber? I have an issue to take care of real quick. Okay thanks bye!" I said dashing off to get to the source of the disturbance. I got a about a few blocks just by running and taking shortcuts when I saw one of the houses burning to the ground and from the flaming building a Phantom walked out holding a flaming colored claymore with one hand resting on his shoulder. The Phantom was wearing all red, his shoulder pieces rusted yellow and his arm braces were also rusted yellow. His blue eyes saw me running towards him and he kicked some of the burning debris out of the way, "Well if it isn't the Bowling Green Super Hero. The Ring Bearing Magician: Travis Edge." He said laughing.


	12. The Immortal Phantom

**"** **Driver On, please."**

My belt said as I scanned the ring over it. The Phantom was staring at me, "I wouldn't fight me if I was you. I mean fight me and show me what you got Wizard, but the family inside the burning building will die right Medusa?" He said. I looked to the right to see the snake haired Phantom walking out of the wreckage. "Hello there Wizard, There is a child and mother in this house. Fighting us might mean them dying so what will you do Wizard?" Medusa said to me. I looked at them with an scary look on my face.

"We'll be seeing you later Wizard." The two said as they made a huge leap towards the other end of the city.

"I have to save those people fast." I slid my Flame Style ring on and pushed the face guard down as I ran towards the burning home.

 **"** **Flame, please. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

My belt said as a red circle enveloped my transformed state.

I ran up to the front door and noticed it was closed and locked. I kicked it in and started looking all over for the victims. I looked in front of me to see a flight of stairs leading straight up to a woman collapsed on the ground. I ran through the flames going up the stairs and I noticed the fire wasn't hurting me, "Well that's just kind of nice. These flames aren't hurting me, so I should be able to get everyone out with no problem." I thought. I picked up the woman and tried to get her to wake up. She wasn't and I started looking around for the kid, "Mommy! Mommy!" I heard a little kid screaming from down the narrow hall. I put the mom on my back and tried to carry her down the hall, "There should be some way out of this house without having to go through this burning hell." I got to the end of the hallway, "Hey kid! Are you in here?" I said. The kid wasn't able to respond as I heard a cracking sound from the other side of the door. I tried kicking the door in but it wasn't budging. I pulled out my swordgun and switched it into gun mode. I pointed the gun at the handle and shot it a couple of times. I then tried kicking the door in again and this time I was successful.

The kid was coughing from breathing in the black smoke that was now forming in his room. I looked to see a window but no safe way out. When I turned around I saw the hallway now caving in to the first floor. "I need to find a way to get these people to safety but I'm not sure how." I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to save the people. I knew if I had one person I could but not two. I needed to come up with a plan quick because the floor around us was starting to make cracking noises and I could tell that I didn't have much time before the floor would cave in.

"TRAVIS! OVER HERE!" I heard a female's voice from outside. I ran to the window and saw Amber with a firefighter holding a safety net to catch people. "Great I'm trying to keep my identity a secret." I said under my breath. I knew I couldn't toss the people out without reverting back to my human self. "Oh boy this is going to suck." I said. I reverted back and threw the mom out the window and she was caught in the net and then I ran to grab the kid. I picked him up and then threw him out of the window. Amber raised her hands at me motioning me to jump next but then I heard a man coughing and I ran back to the entrance of the room.

A bit of the hallway was still intact and to the right of the room was the bathroom. I kicked opened the door while trying to not breathe the smoke in and saw a man in his mid-thirties at least hurled on the ground, "Help me…" He said.

"I thought there was only a mom and son here?" I quickly ran over to the man and helped him up off the ground. He helped with trying to walk while using me as a support. When we got to the window he crawled out it and into the safety net. The house was now starting to fall and I saw Amber yelling at me.

"JUMP! THE HOUSE IS NOW STARTING TO LOSE ITS ABILITY TO STAND!" I put one foot up on the ledge getting ready to jump when the house made a violent shake and threw me backwards onto the floor. I heard a giant crack and creaking noise as the floors behind me started to fall quickly towards me. I finally got up off the ground and ran towards the window and jumped as I shoulder rushed right through it and into the safety net below. When I fell into the net, the firefighters helped me out of the net and onto solid ground where I started coughing a lot as fresh oxygen began filling my lungs.

Amber was already at my side wiping away the black on my face as tears were coming down her face, "I'm so glad you're okay. You ran into the house and weren't coming out so I got worried. I'm so glad you're okay." I looked around making sure the family was okay and all three were getting fresh oxygen into their lungs. All three of them huddled together glad to have each other back safe and sound. A firefighter came up to me with his hand out, "You're a hero son. Because of you these three will be able to keep on living their normal lives." The firefighter said to me. The fire crew was asking me if I was going to be alright and I told them I'd be fine. The three families were taken to a hospital while Amber and I walked back to Grounds for Thought to get my bike and we drove back to DJ's.

"What happened back there? I thought you were going to fight a Phantom?" Amber asked while zooming across town back home. "Two Phantoms showed up one of them must've set the house ablaze, as if there were trying to get my attention. Then the two just leaped away when I ran in. I don't know who they were but I have a feeling that I'm not going to enjoy fighting them. They seem different than the other Phantoms I've fought." I explained to her.

We finally got to DJ's and walked right through the front door to see everyone including Robin gathered in the living room, "Travis! Hey are you ready to…Get a shower and explain what the heck happened?" Robin said noticing some of the black stuff all over me.

"We'll go get some towels." Shawn said as he and Karina ran off. DJ came into the living room with a first aid kit.

"What happened to you Travis?" He asked concerned. Amber ran and turned on the TV as an emergency news update was on every channel about the house fire. The family of three were mentioned and when DJ saw them he shut down and walked back to his office.

Karina came back with a new shirt for me and Shawn had some wet towels as he tried to wipe the black stuff off my face. I tried getting as much as I could off, "Thanks Shawn and Karina." I said. I pointed to the TV screen telling them about how two powerful looking Phantoms were the cause of the fire. While everyone was distracted I walked to DJ's office as I saw him holding a photo at his desk and from behind I saw his back move a bit up and down like he was crying.

"DJ?" I said knocking on the wood to come in. I slowly walked in and moved over to his side and put my hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay DJ?" I asked concerned for my friend. I looked down at the photo; there were two people in the photo. One was a man with short light brown hair; white skinned, filled up with confidence and happiness, and next to him was a white woman with grey hair, very wrinkled face, wearing pearls around her neck and a huge smile on her face. The photo was a very happy one as the two were standing in front of a brick building house. The man in photo I knew right off the bat was DJ. The photo looked like it was taken maybe five to ten years ago. DJ being as tall as he was which was about six foot and three inches. "Who's this standing next to you in this photo DJ?" I asked him. He was doing his best to not fully break down, I grabbed some tissue that was next to his desk and this was the first time I ever saw DJ so vulnerable.

"My 72 year old mother." He said as he held back more tears. I wanted to ask him what happened but I felt like not doing it right now because I didn't want to attract attention to the others. Based on what I was hearing out in the living room, Amber was telling them about how she helped me out at the burning house.

"Hey DJ, I want to know more about what happened but let's wait until we have time when it's just us okay. Until then how about we all go out to King's Buffet and just enjoy our time together." I said trying to cheer him up. I stayed by DJ's side as he tried to regain his composure. He opened the drawer and gave me two new rings that he had made while I was in the hospital out of the spare magical stones he had found. The picture on one was a dragon with its tail in circles and another one with a dragon spilling some type of liquid from its head. "Why don't you guys go out I'm going to want some time to myself." He said. I felt bad for him and didn't want to go out without him, but I ended up doing so. "I feel really bad leaving him alone like this."

I walked out of the office and back to the group, "Who all wants to go to King Buffet? DJ wants to spend some time alone here." I asked. Everyone was all for it but had wondered why DJ wasn't coming. I couldn't tell them, I didn't feel like it was my place so I came up with a lie. "He's just really tired but wants us to all go out and have some fun." I said. I felt bad for lying to them as well. Robin quickly got up and grabbed her keys, "I can take everyone in my van so let's all jump in and go!" She said excited.

Karina and Shawn decided to have a race to see who could get to the car first. "Karina first one to the vehicle gets shotgun!" Shawn said challenging her. "Let's do it! Bet I'll beat you to it first!" Karina said back. Amber wanted to take the chance to start the challenge, "Okay first one to the car gets to ride up in front. Racers ready? Get set and GO!" She said as she clapped her hands. Karina and Shawn quickly booted out of the house. Robin, Amber, and I watched from the window to see them running to the van. Shawn was the first to get to the van and then the rest of us walked out of the house, "HA! I won! Shotgun is mine!" Shawn said as he was doing this weird dance move like he just scored the biggest touchdown of his life.

Karina was quite sad, "You only won because your legs are bigger than mine." She said. Then Karina got an interesting idea, "I bet you can't eat as much as me Shawn." She said. Shawn who was jumping up and down made this funny facial expression that made him look Japanese. His mouth was made into an O as he looked at Karina, "I bet I can eat more than you! How about this challenge, whoever gets full first at Kings will get to ride shotgun back home while the other has to walk back." He said feeling confident with himself.

Karina accepted this challenge bursting with her own set of confidence. "Want to make a bet who will win? I'm going with your friend Shawn." Amber said elbowing me. "You don't know Karina like I do. She'll mop the floor with Shawn." I said making the bet.

Everyone jumped into the van and I headed over to my bike, "Amber and I will meet you up there. We'll follow closely behind. I started up my bike and drove as close behind as I could behind Robin's vehicle. The whole trip took about seven minutes and when we arrived I watched as everyone, including Amber, run towards the front door and enter inside. I took my time to slowly walk up to the door and when I did I looked up into the sky, "You know obtaining these powers might not be all that bad. I might be able to overcome my past with my new friends." I said as I opened the door and joined my friends.

(Phoenix's Viewpoint)

I walked inside the giant cave where my master was resting. Inside the middle of the cave was white curtains that surrounded my master Wiseman's bed. He was laying inside and had noticed my presence, "Is that you Phoenix?" He asked. I kneeled down to the ground, "Yes it is Wiseman. I've come in to report that the Ring-Bearing Magician is still alive. Cait Sith only caused him a hospital stay." I reported.

"I don't know why I can't just set this entire city ablaze. It's piss poor that we have to rely on Medusa's ability to find quality Gates when the best option is to burn each and every one of them ingrates to ashes!" Wiseman slowly walked out of his quarters and stood in front of me, "In due time you will have your chance to go berserk. But for now I need you to listen to me and obey when I give you an order." He said.

I quickly got back up and summoned my giant sword and held it up to his face, "ORDERS THIS! AND ORDERS THAT! I'M GETTING SICK OF YOUR SHIT! IT PISSES ME OFF THAT SOMEONE AS STRONG AS I CAN'T GO HAVE A LITTLE FUN WHILE YOU JUST LAZE IT UP IN YOUR BED! I don't think you're as strong as you come off to be. Medusa may be out doing her stuff, but I'm not going to stand by and be forced to deal with your laziness. If you think that I'll take any more of this then I guess we will need a new master." I raised my sword sideways to slice his head off but he caught my mighty blade with just two fingers and no matter how much force I put behind my blade I didn't get his fingers to budge an inch.

"So I'm taking it that you want to die am I right Phoenix? That's a pity because I was going to let you destroy Wizard." His white hands began forming a purple fog over them which he then used to grab my throat and I could feel all of my mana quickly leaving my body and my life force was slowly draining as well. I started to tap his hand, "Okay! Okay! Okay! I'm sorry I won't speak out of turn again! Just let me go!" I begged.

Wiseman stopped draining my life force and mana and released his grip on my throat. I fell to the ground, "You think that I'm just being lazy in my bed? No you dumb creature. I'm plotting, waiting, thinking. Something you obviously don't do because your brain doesn't lie in your HEAD but you're FISTS. Don't ever question me ever again, because the only person who can kill you right now and keep you dead is me. I helped bring you in this world free from your human self, don't think that I won't get rid of you if you prove to be a nuisance to me. The only Phantom that is doing what they are supposed to right now is Medusa. You are just being a big cry baby because you can't go all out. If you want to go all out then go fight Wizard. Maybe fighting someone will help cool your head." He said.

I went to stand up and when I finally did Wiseman turned around and picked up my sword, "Also this is how you slice at someone." He said. Before I had chance to think everything that was going on, I saw my blade get sliced across my chest sending me flying towards the walls and then Wiseman threw the blade over his shoulder as it got sent soaring to me. The blade stabbed right into the wall next to my face and I got up scared, as I pulled the sword out of the wall. "He's extremely calm and chilled. But just off that little encounter I know that I'm unable to fight him. I don't think even Medusa and fifty Phantoms could land a scratch on him. I've never felt power like that before and the fact that he can drain us of our mana and life force is just as upsetting. For once I'm going to have to watch my temper around him." I said as I stumbled out of the cave heading to find Wizard so I could release a bit of steam. "When I find you Wizard, be prepared for the fight of your life. Because when I'm done with you I'm going to make you wish you never messed with us Phantoms."

(Travis's Viewpoint)

"Hahahaha I won! I won! I won! Put that on your plate and eat it Shawn!" Karina said with her arms raised in the air. Shawn on the other hand looked like he was about to pass out from the food coma. "Oh God I can't believe that a human being that can eat that much exist." He said as he was laid out on the floor with an upset stomach. "Where the heck does all that food go? Do you have a black hole in your stomach?" He said with his back up against the wall now.

Everyone else who could move made their way to Robin's van, "I think I'll stay behind and wait for Shawn to feel better. I'll drive him back after I get done making a stop at this dojo in town." I said to the guys. "Hey Travis I'll go get some medicine for Shawn that will help settle his stomach and drop it off at DJ's. Make sure he takes some okay?" Robin said to me. After that she drove off and I sat up against the building with Shawn, "I gotta say I was impressed you could keep up with Karina. How many plates of food did you have?" I asked Shawn.

"I had 8 plates, and four cups of pop. She had 11 plates of food and five cups of pop. That girl can fricking eat and she still has energy like she hasn't eaten at all." He said.

I laughed really hard, "I told you that you weren't going to win this one." I reminded him. Shawn and I made some small chatter as we allowed time to pass. I think about fifteen minutes had passed and I looked at the business card DJ had given me to see this Marshall Lee guy, "Would you like me to drop you off at DJ's or home so you can rest up?" Shawn was against the idea as he wanted to hang out with me some more. I looked up at the sky and noticed the clouds were getting darker, "I think it's going to rain soon. Let's head out now so we can just go straight back before the clouds let loose." Shawn mentioned.

We both got up and headed out of the parking lot. Once we got to the stoplight I turned right and down Main Street until I hit a dojo that was on the outskirts of Bowling Green. I walked up to the building that was the only building for about a couple blocks worth and jiggled the door handle, "Great, its closed." I got a look at the schedule and noticed that on Fridays and Saturdays the place is closed, "Guess I'll stop by tomorrow." I said as I walked away. I hopped back on my bike, "Ready to get going Shawn?" I asked.

He shook his head up and down and I started my bike up, "Do you think I'll let you go home Wizard?" A familiar voice said. I got off my bike and turned around to see the red Phantom stepping out from the side of the building, "You know if you're a Masked Rider I'd think that you would know how to fight. But if you're at a dojo then I guess I'm mistaken." The Phantom said to me.

"Shawn stay behind me at all times and near the bike. If things get out of hand I need you to ride away." I said as I walked away from the bike and towards the Phantom. "You seem to know a lot about me Phantom." I said as I scanned my ring.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

The Phantom just stared at me, "The name's Phoenix kid, and today is the day your journey comes to an end." Phoenix warned. I slid my Flame Ring on my finger and flipped the levers.

 **"** **Sha ba doobi touch to transform!**

 **Flame, please. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

My singing belt said as I said transform. I ran through the red spell circle with my sword in hand. I ran right up to Phoenix as I sliced at his chest and his reactions were just a step backward. A giant flame erupted in his hands and from it was a giant sword that looked like it should be wielded with two hands but he was holding it with one, "What's that catchphrase? It's showtime?" Phoenix said.

He swung his giant sword which hit me in my side and sent me flying away from him. "Travis! Get back up!" Shawn yelled. I got back up with one knee on the ground and I reached for a spell ring. I flipped the switches and scanned the ring.

 **"** **Bind, please."**

I casted out six spell circles that shot out of the ground a bunch of chains that wrapped around not just Phoenix's blade, but his body as well. "Ohoho this is something exciting. I wonder what you'll do now that I'm all wrapped up." He said. I reached for another ring to try and end this, "Your cockiness is what's going to make you lose this fight." I said as I flipped the switched again.

 **"** **Lupacchi magic touch to go!**

 **Very Nice, Kick Strike! The Best!"**

I stood up as fire began wrapping itself around my right food and I did a cartwheel towards Phoenix. Once I was five feet away from him I jumped up into the air and came soaring through the air. But his body wasn't the one that took my attack, it was his sword. He had broken free from my chains and was holding off my attack by using his weapon. "No way!" I said as I kept pushing the blade towards him. "I'm not like the other Phantoms you've face Wizard! I'm a lot stronger and deadlier than the last phantom's you've fought combined."

Phoenix ended up summoning a bunch of fire around his left fist and when he was done he dropped his sword. My foot that was still engulfed in fire met his fist, "Let's see who's fire is deadlier, yours or mine?" Once his fist hit my foot all of my fire got absorbed into his fist and it made an even bigger flame and then I was sent flying backwards as I rolled on the ground. "Huh I guess your flame is just a candle compared to my forest fire. If that's all you got then I guess this won't take long."

I got back up of the ground, "I'm not going to let him get to me. I will keep a calm head. I think I have an idea, let's see how he does against multiple of me in water." I said as I pulled out my blue Water Ring. I slid off the Flame Ring and replaced it, and then I switched the levers.

 **"** **Water, please. Water! Water! Water! Water!"**

A blue spell circle formed around my feet and moved up revealing my blue form. I saw a fireball forming in front of Phoenix, "Let's see if my fire can hurt your water form Wizard!" He said as he punched the ball of fire at me, I reached for my Defend Ring and flipped my levers.

 **"** **Liquid, please."**

"That can't be right." I said. But before I had a chance to know what this power could do the ball of fire hit my body which is now nothing but water and I wasn't harmed. "Huh this is quite interesting." I said. I used my new form to travel on the ground towards him and he kept shooting balls of fire at me. None of his attacks were working and when I was right under him he raised his foot and slammed it in the puddle of water that was my body. "WHY CAN'T I HIT YOU?!" Phoenix roared as none of his attacks could touch me.

I used my water body to wrap around his body and solidified my top half as I forced him to release his sword. When he dropped it I turned my body back into water and carried it all away. I had a feeling that this form wasted up a lot of my mana so I solidified back, "So I can't stay in that for long periods of time? Got it." I looked back at Phoenix as he was furious for me taking his sword.

"Give. That. Back!" He roared. He had thrown himself back and then forward as a huge stream of fire came blazing towards me and I pulled out my Defend Ring,

 **"** **Defend, please."**

A blue spell circle appeared in front of me but the blast was too much for me to keep back and it seemed for every second going by, the more powerful his fire was. I watched as my spell circle begin to vanish and when I jumped to the side to avoid the blast I got hit. I was sent flying all the way towards my bike as I reverted back to my human form with some burn marks on me and blood slowly coming out of my mouth and my clothes having burnt spots.

Shawn got off the bike and I was having a hard time moving as the pain of my skin being burned was keeping me on the ground. "Travis! Come on get up! The Phantom is coming! Get on the bike we have to go!" He tried to pick me up but burnt his hand from touching my leather coat.

"How the hell did I get hit by that wave? I jumped out of the way and it's like it moved to my direction when I jumped?" I thought to myself so I could ignore the pain. Phoenix began laughing as he picked up his giant sword, "It's been forever since I got that enraged. I guess you didn't know that if I cast out fire I can move it to my will. Sucks to be you kid." Phoenix raised his sword and placed it over the back of his neck and began walking closer to us.

I kept trying to get up but I was having a hard time because of the stinging pain from my burns. Phoenix was now standing about half his blades length and he placed his sword right up at my throat, Shawn was still standing next to me as he was scared about the situation that was going on. "You're through Wizard." He said laughing. I found a way to ignore the pain as I grabbed the side of the blade with my hand and pushed it away,

"I'm…Not through yet." I said as I began standing on my feet. The pain from my burns was still there but I was fighting them back, "I'm not going to die here. Because if I died here, who will protect this city? Who will protect my friends from people like you? I'm going to see this through and a little burn isn't going to stop me!" I said.

My hands began to glow as something started to materialize inside them. The bright glow began emanating throughout my entire body and then shot out at Phoenix causing him to fall backwards good feet away from me, "What is this power?! What kind of sorcery is this Wizard?!" Phoenix said getting pissed again.

I opened my hands to see in my left hand a new Transformation Ring, and in my right a new Spell Ring. The Transformation Ring was a bigger red gemstone of my Flame Ring, but with a gold piece at the top, and the Spell Ring had a picture of a dragon head's blowing fire out of its mouth. Then I felt my conscious slip into a dark area and I began looking around to see where I was. Dragon flew in circles around me and landed next to me, "You have proven yourself worthy Travis. I think it's time I gave you my full power! Show what that bird has to deal with when you and I fight as one!" He said.

I came back to my fight and I took a step forward towards Phoenix but when I did I heard some weird mystical music coming from behind me. I turned around to see Shawn who had a portable speaker attached to his mp3 player, "What? I put a huge musical playlist together for you? A superhero like you has to have a getting ready to fight music." He said. I just gave him a look, "At least it sounds magical." I said as the instrumental song kept playing. I flipped the levers on my belt and scanned my Flame Ring.

 **"** **Flame, please. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

I casted the red circle in front of me and slowly stepped forward. Phoenix shot out multiple balls of fire at me and I had already flipped my levers to Spell and back to Transformation,

 **"** **Flame** **Dragon! Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn!"**

The belt said with a deep tone.

Dragon erupted out of my belt and knocked the fire balls back at Phoenix who fell onto the ground as my power began circling around me. Then Dragon hit my back and red wings made of fire appeared and then vanished. My black cape was now a neon red, what was left of my cape had become shoulder armor, my mask's faceguard was enlarged with horns that looked like wings sticking out next to the gold jewel piece that was located on my forehead. "Now it's showtime." I said.

I took a deep breath and exhaled as everyone was surprised to see my new form upgrade. Phoenix began shooting multiple fire balls at me and I just stood there and took it. I didn't move nor did I get hurt. "WHY WON'T YOU GET HURT?!" Phoenix was now even more tempered as his sword began to be encased in flame and sliced the blade in my direction as a line of fire came at me. I started walking towards the attack and when I got close I put my hand up and caught it, "NO!" He said screaming.

I leaned my hand back and some of my mana started getting infused into the fire making it bigger. I pushed his attack back at him and it sent him flying backwards even more. Phoenix knew he was overpowered now but that didn't stop him getting back up on his feet, "I WON'T BE DEFEATED BY YOU!" He roared again as he started up that whole fire attack that overpowered me.

"That's totally fine Phoenix I wouldn't mind seeing which of us has the brighter flame. I guess it's time for the finale." I pulled out my new spell ring that Dragon gave me and flipped my levers.

 **"** **Lupachii Magic Touch to Go!**

 **Very Nice! Special! The Best!"**

My belt said as Dragon's head erupted out of my chest. Dragon breathed a flame that was more intense than what Phoenix had let out. Phoenix's flame came shooting at me and it met my attack and we had both of our fires colliding with each other. His flame did its best to compete with mine but then I realized that I too could bend my fire to my will and I moved my flame over an inch as it worked its way down to Phoenix while still holding back his. Once my flame hit him, I started to rapidly push back his flames and all of our attacks hit their mark, and the moment they did I dispelled my attack as Phoenix let out a huge yell. As the flames died down, Phoenix's body was nowhere to be found. The only thing left was a giant pile of ash, "I did it." I sighed as I reverted back to my human form and noticed that all of the burns I was feeling were gone but the marks were still there.

Shawn came running up to me, "You did it! You did it! You even got a new power to boot!" he said excited. I also realized after all the power I used to fight Phoenix that my body was still standing. "I'm guessing this new form allows me use up a lot of raw power without it causing me to fatigue afterwards. I'm guessing that's because Dragon is helping me in the fight so I don't have to use up as much mana if he's helping out." I thought as I looked at my new Transformation Ring.

Shawn brought me back down to earth as he bear hugged me, "I was so worried that you weren't going to make it! You did a great job! Hey who's that at the dojo's door?" I had hugged him back when he hugged me and then when he said that last sentence I turned around to see an old man, brown skinned, five foot tall, white hair, had a cane, and dressed in blue jeans with a blue palm tree designed shirt on.

"I think that's the master of that place." I said to him. The man looked at me from far away and then raised his hand up in the air and folding his four fingers down at me, "I think he wants you to come over?" Shawn said. I put my rings away and slipped on my Driver On ring as we both approached the old man.


	13. The Lizard Phantom

I walked into the building with Marshall Lee and Shawn. The entire building was one solid room except for the back of the building which is where lockers were for changing into the uniforms set up here. On the left side of the building were photos, colored belts, and a giant timetable of the success this dojo had. On the right were bleachers where you could sit and watch what goes on in the building. The middle floor from the front to the back had two giant black mats which is where sparring and stuff would go on. In each mat was a giant white circle.

"I'm guessing the circle is for tournaments." I thought to myself. Marshall took me to the first mat and had us both sit on our knees.

"I saw your fight with that monster. Your combat skills could use some work." Marshall said. I looked at Marshall with worry on my face, "Can you try and not say anything to anyone about me being Wizard. I can't let the public know about me I'm afraid if they do more people will get hurt." I requested to him.

Marshall looked at me, "I'll make a deal with you. I'll keep your secret safe but you must promise something. I will train you to fight better. Do that and I'll keep your identity a secret to my grave." I was really relieved to hear him say that. "When can we start training?" I asked him.

Marshall looked at me with a smile on his face, "We can start now." He said.

(Medusa's Viewpoint)

I finally returned back to the cave to report into Wiseman. When I arrived that muscle bound idiot wasn't anywhere to be found, "Where the hell is Phoenix?" I asked. Wiseman was lying in his bed behind the curtains and heard me walk in, "Medusa is that you?" He asked.

I kneeled down as he walked out of the curtains and approached me, "Yes Wiseman. I've come to report in my mission." I said. Wiseman walked up to me and placed his hands on my shoulder, "Please rise. My right hand Phantom shouldn't need to bow. Tell me what is your status on keeping an eye on our Mage?" He asked as I stood up.

"He's been getting stronger. With each new power up his stamina and ability to fight keep evolving. I'm afraid that if he keeps on this path he could even surpass Phoenix and I. We tried to create a new Phantom with that house fire as we also told him that there were only two people in the house. But he was able to miraculously find the Gate that I had purposely knocked out. We also found out that if the father died and became a new Phantom, the rest would despair and turn into Phantoms as well."

Wiseman walked past me and I followed him until we got to the entrance of the cave, "I have an idea on how we are going to change all that. Right now I need more Phantoms. Our army is getting smaller and I need to find a way to create more Phantoms, only then will I be able to wipe out all of humanity. Medusa, we are going to try again with turning that family of Gates into Phantoms. I need to stretch my legs a bit anyways; in a couple of days we are going to deal with these people ourselves. If Wizard gets in the way then we will deal with him if time should permit. I want you to go find Lizardman and Phoenix. Have those two go find a Gate that will become a Phantom and when you do return the Gate here. I've put a magical barrier around the cave here so outsiders can't get in." Wiseman suggested. I bowed down to him as I walked out of the barrier and back into town.

I knew where Lizardman was hiding but I could barely sense Phoenix's mana. I reverted into my human form and I began walking all the way out to the outskirts of the city where I sensed Phoenix. While walking I saw a kid bike past me and I felt a high amount of mana emanating off of him. I heard a car honk and a bike falling along with the kid falling to the ground. I quickly ran over to the kid as I was scanning him to make sure he was a Gate. I picked him up, "Are you okay kid? That was quite the fall." I said with my cute girly voice. The kid was brushing off some dirt that got on him and I found a photo fall out of his pocket.

"My photo!" He said as he stumbled towards it. The wind was blowing a bit and it ran out into the road. The kid who looked like he was in his teens ran out to grab it and then I saw a car coming towards him, "The kid must die either by a Phantom or to his despair. Not by actual causes." I quickly summoned a snake to wrap around his waist and pulled him back as fast as I could. The kid fell into my arms and I helped him stand up. In his hand was the photo he chased out into the street to get, "I don't know what I would do if I lost this." He said. I looked at the photo to see a girl that looked like it could be his mother.

The kid looked at me, "Thanks miss. My name's Nick Whitson." The kid had a deep voice and when I looked at him I finally got a good description of him. He was taller than me by a foot, white skinned, wore glasses, had blue eyes, was wearing these dark blue denim jeans with a plain white shirt. He had blonde hair and the look on his face was like he didn't care much for the world. I helped him up and decided it was time I finally made him despair.

"Umm, yea sure no problem." I said.

He looked at me and then picked up his bike, "Well I guess I should get going." He said as if he was bored.

Once he got on his bike I grabbed his shirt, "Um can you help me with something? You know since I saved your life." I said to him.

He looked at me like he couldn't be bothered, "What is it that you want? I have to get home otherwise my dad is going to kill me."

I pointed at the Dollar Tree and made up a story, "I'm supposed to meet a friend of mine who is giving me something behind Dollar Tree but she's been acting weird lately and I'm kind of scared. Do you think you could just come with me and wait for her arrival?"

I gave him the most unbelievable lie in the book and was ready to make it more believable if need be. Nick sighed and looked at the direction he was going to bike, "Okay whatever. I'll go with you but I don't have a lot of time to kill so I'm hoping your friend hurry's up." He said. We started walking to the back of the Dollar Tree on Main Street and when we got to the back I stood up against the back of the store. Nick was on his phone texting someone and I wandered over to take a peek.

"So who's the person in the picture?" I asked.

He stopped texting and looked at me, "The only picture I have of my mother. She and my dad got a divorce and I hold on to this because I hope that one day I'll be able to see her again." He said.

I looked at the photo and then he put it in his pocket, "Oh hey there's my friend!" I said as I pointed at a random direction. Nick looked in the direction and when he did I snatched the photo from his pocket, he quickly turned around all defensive, "Give that back!" He ordered. I transformed into my snake form and summoned out a giant snake from my arm that whipped itself at Nick's side causing him to slam up against the wall. I had my snake wrap itself around Nick's body until the head was right at his neck.

"I'm sorry Nick but you won't need this anymore. Your little fragile hope here as well as your care for the world isn't going to be enough to keep you alive. I do love making people like you despair, when your will to live is as fragile as an egg. Now give rise to a wonderful Phantom Nick Whitson." The snake that had coiled around his body opened it's mouth and revealed it's big fangs as it bit through Nick's neck causing his body to go limp.

I released his body from my snake's grasp as it fell to the ground like a rag doll. I watched as purple cracks appeared all over his body rapidly and then when every crack connected a monster that looked like Cait Sith but instead of yellow there was a tinted green and the face of a ferret replaced the face of a cat. The Phantom standing before me had a chain and sickle in his hands, "What is your name Phantom?" I asked.

The Phantom's voice was the same deep voice as its host when it spoke, "My name is Kamaitachi. I am willing to serve Mistress Medusa." He said to me. I smiled as I created a new Phantom that could take down Wizard.

"I really know how to pick'em don't I?" I thought to myself as we both reverted to our human forms and walked down the street to pick up Phoenix.

(Travis's Viewpoint)

A few hours have passed and my training was hard. Shawn ended up leaving to go home and I'm pretty sure to tell the others what happened. Marshall wanted me to call him sensei instead of his name and for the past three hours I've been there he's been sparring with me, and teaching me what I could do to make my moves better. Right now we were practicing kicks. We could not fight with our hands and during the duration of the sparring I was to keep my hands behind my back. Sweat was streaming down my face and I think my shirt was drenched a bit.

I raised my right leg to kick at his stomach but he jumped sideways and kicked my face causing me to spin around and then I fell on the ground, "You go for the obvious attack. When fighting make your opponent think you're going to do something and then change it up when they are distracted. I've seen how you fight and you like to go for an opening that could end up becoming a trap." I got back up off the ground and put my hands behind my back, "I'm ready to start again." I said.

Sensei put his hands behind his back and got into a stance, "If you're ready then attack me." He challenged. I ran at him and when I was about a foot length I raised my foot to do a snap kick, he ended up leaning back to dodge it and then I raised the same foot to kick him in the stomach but he saw that and when he went to do the same counter, I put my foot down and kicked with my opposite leg and hit him at his right hip. Once I put my foot down I spun my body around and kicked him with my right heel which pushed him back a bit. He then ran at me and jumped into the air to do a kick which I leaned to the left and got behind him. When I did I leaned my body down to do a sweep kick which caused him to lose his balance and fall onto the ground.

I got back into stance and watched him get back up, "Good! Good! Excellent work Travis. You're picking this up really well. For the past hour we've been working on just kicking and it seems to really stick with you. Let's call it a day okay? Care for some tea?" He offered. I accepted and he sent me off to the showers in the locker rooms. My body was really sore from our sparring matches. While showering I saw the bruises on my arms, stomach, and legs, "He may be an old man but he doesn't hold back his punches." I said as I grabbed the shampoo bottle on the white marbled shelf. Showering didn't take long and when I was done with everything I walked back out into the gym.

I saw sensei walk up to me with a sad look on his face, "What's wrong?" I asked him. He looked like he wanted to cry, "I want some time to myself today. Stop by tomorrow and we'll do what we were doing but with our fists." He said with sadness in his voice. I felt like I couldn't do anything here so I thanked him and walked out the door and up to my bike. When I got on my bike I saw something in the wooded area across the street and when I did I saw the snake lady as well as a weird green Phantom and what appeared to be Phoenix. "Shit he's alive?!" I said. I wanted to rev the bike and fight them but before I could a giant gust of wind surrounded them and when the wind calmed down, the three were gone. "I have a feeling this isn't my last time I'm going to see them." I started up my bike and went home.

I finally arrived home to see only Karina and Amber back at the place. Karina greeted me as usual but Amber ran up and gave me a warm hug. Amber looked up at me with this gleam in her eyes, "So I hear it's your birthday in two weeks? We should go do something." She said hinting me at something. I didn't know what she was talking about and had thought that maybe we could probably plan a date. I looked around the room, "Where's DJ and Shawn?" I asked.

Amber took advantage of this, "They went out to do grocery shopping. As well as I did for my place." She said. I then realized that I never went into her Underworld and killed her Phantom, "I'm going to talk to DJ to see if maybe you could stay here. You're still a Gate and I'm sure if one Phantom couldn't kill you they will send more. Plus while you're here Phantoms can't detect or pick up you're presence." I said.

I noticed Karina had this weird look on her face, "Travis can I talk to you please?" She said as she went to the hallway that led to the kitchen. I walked with her and Karina kept her voice down, "I don't feel comfortable with her living here. Something about her doesn't seem right and I feel like she will bring you harm. I know I haven't told you but I have the ability to detect people who are Phantoms. I've had this ability since we killed Minotauros. I'm having a hard time knowing 100% if Amber is a Phantom, but my gut tells me she's dangerous and I'd prefer it if we just wait a bit." Karina had this scared look on her face and the last time I saw this look was when Minotauros revealed himself to be her brother.

I wrapped my arms around Karina, "I think we'll be fine. If anything happens I'll take care of it." I said to the scared Karina. We walked back out into the living room and Amber was getting ready to head out somewhere.

"Amber where are you going?" I asked her.

She looked at me with this smile on her face, "I'm heading on back home real quick to grab something. I brought my laptop over but my battery is dead. Plus I forgot I was supposed to find a friend of mine so I'm heading out to see him I'll be back either later on tonight or tomorrow afternoon." With that she was out the door. I took out my phone and called DJ to see if he was on his way home. He had told me that he was going to be a while and then I hung up the phone and turned around to face Karina, "I'm curious to see if your ability works. Want to go Phantom hunting with me later?" I asked her. Karina had this huge smile on her face as she bear hugged me. Once she was done she went back to watching television while polishing her crystal ball. I went back to my room and got some sleep.

I was having the same dreams as I always did, or night terrors to be honest. I woke up from it with my phone ringing on the nightstand next to me and I noticed the number was Amber's, "Hey Amber what's up?" I said into the phone. I heard something like a person moaning in pain and gasping for air. I started to panic a bit, "Amber are you okay? Say something! Amber!" I was starting to get nervous and then I heard someone else breathing into the phone, "If you want her to be safe then you shall meet us at the bridge where you defeated our brother Phantom Minotauros. You know the one that overlooks the giant pond out near the country side? You have five minutes." The man said with a thuggish voice. I quickly got up out of bed and put my shoes on and grabbed my Driver On ring that I put on my night stand.

I ran out my room and to the living room to see DJ back, "Hey sir where are you going this late?" He asked. I quickly grabbed my black jacket and put it on, "Amber is in danger! I need to go to her now." I said. Karina ran up to me getting her shoes on, "I'm going with you bro, and you can't say anything to stop me." I knew when she made up her mind there was no going stopping her. We both ran out the door and hopped onto my bike and drove off down the street, "They are so close to us than the other Phantoms. Does this mean that Amber was on her way back to us when she got attacked?" I questioned as we made our way to the bridge.

Karina held on tightly as in just minutes we were at the base of the bridge and I could see the Phantoms with their backs turned to me. I could see a green lizard like phantom and a familiar red one. "Wait Phoenix is alive?" I thought to myself. I looked at Karina with worry, "Karina stay on the bike and under any circumstances, do not get off it. If danger happens you need to drive home." I walked up the bridge ready to fight.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

I slid one of my transformation rings on my finger and the closer I got up the bridge I saw Amber's body all scratched up with blood streaming down from her wounds, "Stay away from me!" She screamed as the green lizard raised its hand at her. I scanned my Hurricane Ring over the opened hand on my sword and sent a green blade of mana towards him.

The Phantom in red turned around and slapped the blade into the sky, "Was wondering when you would show up Mage. You should probably stay by your friends, especially your little girlfriend here. She is still a Gate." Phoenix said.

I raised my blade up at Phoenix, "How are you still alive? I watched as I killed you?" Phoenix began to slowly walk up to me but the green phantom had picked up Amber off the ground by placing his hands around her neck.

Phoenix was prepared to stop me if need be as he stood in my way, "I am the mighty Phoenix. When we die we are reborn from the ashes. Also every time you kill me, the stronger I become. If you want to see for yourself why don't you fight me?" Phoenix said challengingly. I looked at Amber who's arms were fighting the green lizard, "I don't have time for your games Phoenix." I said as I swiped my blade across his chest as hard as I could and it sent him flying into the lizard that dropped Amber. I ran to Amber's side, "Are you okay?" I asked her. She was coughing as she tried to get air into her lungs.

I saw a red mark on her throat and she began to wrap her arms around me out of fear, "I…I, I, I couldn't, couldn't, couldn't…I couldn't…F-f-f-fight b-b-back…" She was stuttering a lot and was extremely terrified. I got her to release me and I stood in front of her, "Go to the base of the bridge, there Karina is and she'll take you back to DJs." I said to her. Amber didn't want to leave my side so I had her go a bit farther from me so she wouldn't get mixed up in the fight, "What are you going to-to-to-do?" She asked stuttering again. I flipped the levers on my belt as I got ready to transform, "Destroy the ones who hurt you." I said.

The dark nightly sky began to form dark clouds and lightning began to flash in them, "The name is Lizardman. I will be the one to make your girlfriend despair, as well as kill you in the process." He said. Phoenix moved to the side, "I guess I have done my part. I'm still gathering all of my mana from my resurrection." He said as flames surrounded him and then vanished.

I was now staring down a monster that had green shoulder armor, a green head that looked like a medieval helmet with one orange eye in the middle, green arm braces and white leggings. He stuck his hand out and a green pole formed, "My host's name was George Vale. I was a local singer for a band that played in town here. I became a Phantom two years ago thanks to my master Wiseman." Lizardman said. I looked at the Phantom with anger in my eyes, "I don't care who you are. Nor will I care after I kill you. Transform." I said as I scanned my ring over my belt.

 **"** **Hurricane, please. Air! Air! Air! Air**

"Now it's showtime." I said finally transformed as the monster took one step and was in front of my face striking me with the end of his pole. I was knocked into the gut and hunched over and then he slammed his other end at my throat causing me to step back. I put my sword in gun mode and shot to keep his distance from me. But he began knocking the bullets into the ground. Lizardman began to walk towards me as he was waving and turning his weapon around like it was a bo staff. I was looking for an opening and I found one in the center.

I turned my gun into sword mode and thrusted my sword into the middle and when I started my thrust the creature stopped moving his weapon and spun around in a circle to his left. Having already did my thrust I was now caught off guard and off balance. The Phantom grabbed my wrist that was supporting my weapon. He twisted my hand releasing it and I took my left hand and open palmed him in the face causing him to step back. I picked my blade up and when I did I felt something hit my shoulder sending me into the middle of the bridge, "Travis!" Amber called out to me as Lizardman jumped into the air and pointed his pole at me as he was coming to stab it into my face. I took out a spell ring and scanned it quickly.

 **"** **Big, please."**

A green spell circle formed and I put my hand through it as I grabbed him and slammed his body onto the ground causing cracks to appear from my giant hand. I released the spell and took out another one and flipped my switches. I watched as the Phantom staggered back up and I scanned my ring.

 **"** **Very Nice! Kick Strike! The Best!"**

Green mana started forming around my feet and I began cartwheeling towards him and I jumped into the air and then came down to kick him. I was about a leg away from him as he punched my foot away hard enough that I ended up missing him and hit the side of the bridge. I quickly cancelled my spell and rolled to my side as I grabbed the edge of the bridge with one hand. "How the hell did he just punch my foot and made me miss him by mere inches?" I was baffled at the same time struggling to keep myself from falling. The Phantom began walking to the edge of the bridge and when I looked down the debris was on the expressway but no traffic was coming yet.

"Well if you must know, just like Cait Sith who has enhanced speed, I have enhanced strength. It's going to take more than your kick to kill me. Let's also think about how I fight. I fight by reading my opponents and their movements. The last two years I've learned how my enemies fight and then I create or make openings in their fighting styles to do some real damage. Allow me to demonstrate just how much strength I have." He said as he grabbed me with one hand wrapped around my neck and lifted me up from the side of the bridge and high into the air, "You see that pond over there that's about half a mile away from us? I am going to send you flying straight to that pond with one punch. That is where our fight will finish, if you can stand up that is." He started to say.

Lizardman was paying a lot of attention to my face than he was to me sliding on a ring. He began to let go as I flipped the levers and scanned the ring.

 **"** **Defend, please."**

A green spell circle appeared in front of me as Lizardman's fist hit it and it sent me flying in a straight line to the pond. Momentum started to pick up and I slammed right into the ground about a few inches deep. The green spell circle vanished and I ended up getting up while dealing with all of the pain in my back.

"If it wasn't for the Defend ring I'd probably have taken more damage than I normally would. I'm a bit shaken up but I think I'll be okay." I said. I saw Karina driving to me and then I heard something hit the ground to only see Lizardman holding Amber who had been knocked out in his arms. He threw her body onto the ground, "I'm surprised you're still able to stand up from that. I guess you just have all sorts of tricks up your sleeve huh?" Lizardman said. He started to walk towards me and I pulled out my blue ring, "If we are going to fight near water then I guess we need to change forms." I said as I flipped my switches.

 **"** **Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform.**

 **Water, please. Water! Water! Water! Water!"**

My belt said as a blue spell circle appeared above my head and went through me to reveal my blue and black attire. I assumed a fighting stance with my hands opened with one in front of me and the other behind my head, "Bring it lizard." I said to him. The Phantom took out his pole weapon and the top end of it began emitting a bright orange light. "I want to see if I can make mana lash out of my weapon like yours and see what happens if I hit you with it." He said. He began spinning his weapons in circles and at certain times it would send out an orange version of what my blade sends out. I began dodging as I headed towards him, I was doing fine with dodging his attack and I used my Connect ring to grab my sword from the bridge. I pulled back on my blade's handle and scanned my Big ring on it.

 **"** **Big Shooting Strike."**

I pulled on the trigger and a small bullet went through the blue spell circle and became big as the time I used it on Arachnid. The Phantom threw his pole on the ground and orange mana started faintly forming around his right hand and then right hooked the bullet out of the battlefield.

I heard something like a motorbike coming into our battlefield and when I looked to my right I saw the bullet going towards Karina who was just pulling in. "KARINA! DODGE!" I yelled out to her but she didn't hear me. But she saw the bullet coming for her and she jumped off the bike as she rolled to safety on the ground. She got up off the ground as the bullet hit the dirt trail and a huge explosion was made. The force of the explosion sent Karina flying across the pond and while she was flying I pulled out my Defend ring and scanned it over my belt.

 **"** **Defend, please."**

I ran up to the edge of the pond, pulled my spell arm back, and thrusted forwards as I sent a blue spell circle to where Karina would land. Some water from the pond rose up in the air and caught Karina trapping her in a bubble made of water and then gently put her down on the ground. "Oh thank God. I thought I was going to be too late." I said in relief. "This Phantom is smart. It knows when to expect my attacks as if I'm televising them to him. Maybe in order for me to fight him I have to throw him off guard. If he's looking for an opening into how I fight maybe I should change up my fighting."

I knew that the longer I kept this up the more Amber and Karina were going to get hurt or end up in our fight. I turned around to see Lizardman just a few feet from me, "How about we try close range fighting? I'd hate to see your friends die by your hands and not mine." He said as he threw a punch. His fingers had these sharp looking claws and I had a feeling I don't want to get hit by them. He put his fingers together and thrusted towards my face and I took my right hand in a sweeping motion knocking his hand away and I raised my right foot as I kicked him in his stomach to give me some distance. I ran towards him while staggering and jumped in the air and roundhouse kicked him onto the ground. He fell on his back and I placed my knees on the area where his elbows were and kept punching him in the face. I kept at this until orange mana began engulfing his body just like Phoenix did when he engulfed himself in fire. "You haven't gotten the best of me Wizard!" He screamed as his orange energy manifested and sent me flying high into the air. I looked down think this would be my chance to strike but when I did while high up I didn't see Lizardman's body.

"Where did he go?" I said looking everywhere for him. I saw something blurry moving across the trees that surrounded our battlefield and then it stopped at the biggest tree. Once the blur was at the tree I saw Lizardman push off the tree breaking it half as he was now in front of me and raised his right hand and jammed it into my chest as he broke through my armor and I was sent plummeting into the water.

Once I splashed into the water I saw something bright shining in this extremely dark pond. I had reverted back to my human form and my chest was hurting, "I'm not going to give up here." I said. I moved my body around in the water so that I was facing the shining thing at the bottom of the pond. There were two shining objects, but both were apart from each other. I ignored the pain in my chest as I began swimming to the bottom of the pond and grabbed the shining object. When I went to look at what I had I felt something grab me by jacket and I was being pulled out of the water. Once my back hit the surface I was thrown out of the water and onto the dry land. I rolled once I hit the ground as I looked at what was in my hand. "It's a spell ring?" I said. The ring was blue with a face of a dragon breathing a snowflake. Dragon began talking in my head, "Travis that's the Blizzard Ring that must mean that the other shiny object in that pond is Water Dragon Style Ring. You need to get back into that pond and find it. The new form might help us out of this situation." He said. I looked at the pond as I stood back up and when I did Lizardman began slowly walking out of the water, "Hiding in the water isn't going to help you as much." He warned me.

I glared at Lizardman as I began thinking of how I was going to get back into the water, "Actually for once, I feel like going swimming and that pond felt great." I said with a cocky tone in my voice. Lizardman summoned out his pole weapon and both sides were glowing with his orange aura, "I will let you go swimming in that pond when you are dead." Rain started to finally downpour and thunder was running about in the dark clouds that have been forming during my entire fight with him. I took out my Copy spell ring, "I'm going back in there and you're not going to stop me." I said as I flipped the levers again.

 **"** **Lupacchi Magic Touch to Go!**

 **Copy, please."**

A bleep sound was made as I had a spell circle move from my left side to the right creating four of me. We each took out the Connect Ring and flipped the levers again, "Your strong against one of me, let's see what happens when you fight four of me." I said as a challenge.

 **"** **Connect, please."**

Our belts said as a red spell circle appeared in front of us and we pulled out our swordguns. All four of us ran towards Lizardman and I mixed myself up in with the three to throw him off. He raised his weapon and hit one of my clones and I made my clone I was standing in front of turn his sword into a gun. That clone started firing and Lizardman thought he won, "I found the real one!" He said as he tossed his pole up and threw it like a spear at our direction. I ran towards the attack and at the last minute I rolled onto the ground dodging his pole and when I got myself back up off the ground I took my sword and slashed at his leg as hard as I could and then I dived into the pond.

"Didn't expect that did you asshole." I said as I dove into the water. I started to swim towards the bright light which was on the right side of the pond near Karina. I was pushing against the water pressure and I kept my eyes open so I knew where I was going. My eyes were stinging a bit from the murky water and then I heard a splash and when I turned around I saw Lizardman swimming towards me.

"I'm sure he is going to have a hard time getting to me because I slashed at his leg." I started to lose air and knew I had to go above water to breathe in air. But I knew if I did Lizardman would have caught up with me. I pulled out my Water ring, "I think if I used my Water Style I should be able to survive underwater a bit longer." I pulled on my levers and transformed into my blue form. I began to breathe a lot easier and I was able to swim a lot faster than I did before. I was now hovered right over the shiny object and I picked it up to see a blue version of the Flame Dragon Style Ring. I had Lizardman grab my foot and he raised his opposite hand to punch my leg but I ended up kicking him hard in his face and pushed off the ground of the pond and jumped high into the air and rolled on the ground. I looked at my new ring and knew what I needed to do.

I flipped the levers again and scanned my ring.

 **"** **Water** **Dragon!** **Bubble Bubble Bubble Bubble Crash!"**

my belt said in that same deep tone, but after Dragon it started to pick up the pace and then a dragon's roar was heard from the belt. A water version of Dragon appeared out of my belt and circled around me. The dragon hit my back transforming my entire outfit that was similar to my Flame Dragon, only everything was neon blue instead of neon red. On my chest was yellow eyes and on my back were water dragon wings that instantly vanished. I heard Lizardman jump out of the water and I had my back turned to him. I whipped out my Dragon's tail and jumped high up into the air as I did a backflip and had my tail whip Lizardman back into the water. He went plummeting back into the water. The rain was starting to fall hard from the clouds and I took out my new spell ring, "Now, your finale." I said as I slid the ring on and flipped the levers.

 **"** **Lupacchi Magic Touch to Go!**

 **Very Nice! Blizzard!"**

A blue circle appeared behind me and I turned my body around and I made the spell circle expand until it was the size of the pond. All of the rain that was going to the pond hit my spell circle and became hail. When the hail hit the pond I could tell it was starting to freeze up. I casted my spell circle towards the pond and when it did the whole thing froze and all you could see in the middle of it was Lizardman with half his body exposed and his hand stretched out as he was completely frozen over.

"You won't hurt anymore of friends." I said as I came falling down from the sky and when I was close to the water I took my tail and sliced Lizardman in half starting at the top of his head to the water. The entire pond cracked open and the water rapidly thawed without any sign of Lizardman being there. I was walking on the water towards Amber as I saw Karina running to her. Once I stepped onto the land I reverted back to my human self, Amber was just waking up, "Could you turn the heat up Travis it's too cold in here." She said as she was rubbing her eyes. I laughed as I picked her up and carried her in my arms, "What I'd miss?" She asked. I told her how I took care of Lizardman and how I was taking her back to DJ's to rest. Karina went and grabbed my bike which was still in great condition and I told her to ride back to DJ's and to get my bed ready for Amber to sleep on. "How are you getting back home bro?" Karina asked. I put Amber down and she stood up as I took out my Hurricane Style Ring, "By flying. I'll be there after I take care of something." I said to her as she rode off back home.


	14. Travis's Dark Past

After watching Karina drive away I turned around to Amber who was shaking. "It's really c-c-cold." She said shaking.

 **"** **Connect, please."**

My belt said as I scanned a ring over it to get a blanket for Amber as well as the first aid kit. Amber looked at me weird, "What's that for?" She asked. I lifted her shirt up a bit to see blood slowly dripping from her stomach down. The cut wasn't that bad but I still had to bandage it up. "I noticed the blood when our fight came down here. I'm going to wrap a bandage around it. The cut isn't deep and will heal up soon but I have to stop the bleeding." I said to her. I told her to stretch her arms out which she did so I could properly wrap the bandage around her. Once I was done she put her shirt down and I placed the blanket around her. "When Karina is home which should be soon, I'll get the bike and take you back to your house so you can get into some fresh clothes." I said to her.

A few minutes went by and I used my Connect Ring to grab my bike and had Amber hop on. Once she was on Amber wrapped her arms around me and held on as she guided me to her place. The location of her place was close to the local Wal-Mart which was about a mile down the street from the fight. Once we got over the railroad tracks Amber had me pull into this apartment complex and we went to apartment number 010. "You live by yourself I guess?" I asked her as I walked her up to the door.

"My mom and I lived here. Then last year something happened to her and it's been just me." She said in a low tone. She opened the door and we walked inside. The kitchen is the first place you see which is connected to a beige carpeted living room that only had a sofa up against the wall on the left side, and a TV on a glass stand in the middle of the room on the far right side. If you kept walking straight you'll run right into a big closet. On the right side of the closet is a bathroom in a corner and in between the bathroom and the closet is Amber's bedroom. Amber walked into her room and closed the door. I took my shoes off in the kitchen and looked around at the photos she had hanging on the walls. Amber then walked out of her bedroom with some clothes in her arms, "If you want you can hang out here for a bit." She said. I ended up sitting on the sofa and I realized how extremely comfortable it was. Before I knew it I ended up falling asleep.

(Wiseman's Viewpoint)

I heard noises in my cave as Kamaitachi returned after I sent him to do his assignment. "Master Wiseman I've brought the family from that fire caused by Phoenix as you requested." He said to me. I got up out of my bed and walked through the curtains to introduce myself to the next breed of Phantoms. The family that Wizard had saved earlier were brought to the cave. I saw the chubby white male with dirty blonde hair and freckles on his face being forced to his knees along with his wife who had long brunette hair, a scar on her forehead, and then I saw their child who had a well combed black hair, white, and looked to be about ten years old.

Their son was crying and frozen in fear, the mother who didn't know what was going on, and the father who tried to keep a brave face. All of them had some signs stating that they struggled against Kamaitachi, "Hello Gates." I said to them. I walked up to the kid and picked him up, when I did the father quickly got up off his feet and went to attack me but my weasel phantom summoned out a chain sickle and wrapped it around his leg and pulled him backwards causing him to fall on his face. "I would refrain from any sudden movements. Humans like yourselves are far too weak to do anything in the situation that you are in." I said as I walk with the child fighting in my arms. I turned around facing the parents, "I can tell that this kid is not a Gate and will not produce a Phantom, but after having one of my subordinates carefully watch over you three since the fire I've been told that he is what keeps you two's hope alive." I looked at Kamaitachi and had him come over to keep the kid still. When he did I walked over behind the parents and placed my hands on top of their heads.

I noticed that these two would make wonderful Phantoms, "Kid you live in a world where there are two races. The first is you humans who are destructive to your own kind. You kill each other for some impersonal gain, I lost someone close because you humans wanted something that belonged to us and you people took everything I had away from me. I lost my wife and daughter because of the greed that humans have and as me being the first Phantom I will wipeout the human race and from the ashes of this world, I will create a world where Phantoms reign and make a utopia for the monsters and I will be there God. Anyone who can't turn into a Phantom will be killed on the spot. All of you hold onto your little glimmers of hope to keep you alive but what you guys fail to realize is that your hope is extremely fragile. Like your parent's for example, your parents cling onto you to be a better person than they were and for you to make a name for yourself." I explained to the child.

The parents were fighting back, "How the hell do you know what we want from our kid?! Leave our son out of this!" The dad said. I leaned closer to their ears and whispered softly, "I have the ability to know what you're thinking as long as I can touch you." I said to them.

I looked up at Kamaitachi and he took out a chain sickle from his hand and placed it underneath the kid's throat. "Your child will die and you two shall despair." I said holding onto the parents. Suddenly the dad broke free from my grasp and ran towards his son but before he could Kamaitachi sliced the kid's throat as blood quickly ran down his body as it collapsed onto the floor. The dad finally got to his son's corpse before a chain sickle severed his head off from his body. The mother started forming purple cracks on her body at the loss of her family, "Now you see the pain I was forced to endure. When you've been taken hostage and you can't do anything. Watching the people you love die and feeling worthless all of the while. Now despair and give birth to a new Phantom." I said as the mom's cracks rapidly formed all over her body then something ripped out of her back as a Phantom was born, then the dad began to follow suit.

The mom's phantom looked Medusa but instead of a hair full of snakes the entire face was just one reptilian yellow colored head with big fangs. Her body was mostly red and yellow shoulder bits. The arms had a black line running through the colors and her entire chest was a mixture of red and black. Her claws were made to be extremely sharp, and she had a black tail coming out her back. "What is your name Phantom?" I asked. The lizard like serpent looked at me, "The name is Hydra, Master Wiseman." I laughed as I knew how powerful this Phantom would be and as I succeeded in creating it. The next one to follow suit was the father. Purple cracks formed all over his body and then something jumped out its back. The Phantom looked like a giant moth with a bronze chest plate, bronze arms and dark grey nails. It had these insect like tendons going up its ankle to waist area. Wherever there wasn't any armor it had this light grey puffy fur and the face was that of a flying insect with green eyes. "What's your name Phantom?" I asked.

The creature made this buzzing noise as it looked at me, "The name's Manticore." It said back.

I looked back at the dead body of the child that was bleeding out in front of me, "I will dispose of this body outside the barrier. Kamaitachi, I want you to get them to know their roles as new Phantoms and have them get used to their abilities and to fighting." I instructed him. He bowed down to me and I reached down and picked the boy up in my arms. I began to walk outside the cave and around the forest. I looked around to see the forest bustling with life. I had walked about half a mile out until I came to a hole in the ground, "This hole that once led that cave exploration has been destroyed. But I can still make use of it to leave corpses in." I said standing over the entrance. "To think that Dragon was buried underneath here all these years and in my reach. Was it fate that Travis found his powers here? Or was it something more?" I thought as I stared at the boy in my arms.

"Soon child when I've begun the Holy Night, and turned every human into Phantoms, I will give back the life I stole from you. Until then you must rest knowing that you're parents are dead, and that you can never rest in peace." I said as I dropped the body into the hole. I looked all the way to the other end of the forest, "I will revive the people I lost, and the people that have died in a world where humanity has exceeded evolution. As long as the ring-bearing magician and the primordial mage are alive I can't move my plans into motion."

I began to walk back to the cave as I heard a camera shutter and I stopped walking, "So someone has walked into this forest and through my barrier huh?" I said as I turned around. I saw a tall dark brown male with black hair and dressed like he was a member of a gang. I began walking towards the male who then turned and started running away from me. I then shot out a purple ball of energy towards him and it ended up bouncing off his shoulder causing him to fall to the ground with a piece of his shoulder missing and blood gushing out, "Who are you to have walked into my barrier?" I asked the injured person. I could tell he was a Gate and if I were to kill him he would become an extremely powerful asset.

"I'm not inclined to tell you shit!" The kid said with some spunk.

I was now standing over him and I stepped on his arm that was the opposite of the wound. I then began to kneel down and picked up the wallet that had fallen out of his pockets, "You're Terrion White huh?" I was amazed to see how fortunate I was today. The kid was now terrified to see me having him pinned down and I raised my hand up in the air with my fingers together, "Give birth to a fantastic Phantom." I said to the kid as I plunged my fingers in his throat as Terrion died instantly and I pulled my hands back.

Purple cracks rapidly formed and then something black and furry emerged. The monster had buff black furry body, grey claws, big red eyes, its mouth was about half a foot out with big white fangs, it's ears pointed straight up and the creature stood about six foot tall which was the second highest Phantom I've created. The creature had this blood red chest plate and shoulders pads. I watched as this creature howled up at the sky and then transform back into its human form, "What is your name Phantom?" I asked the kid.

He looked at me with nothing but anger on his face, "The name is Lykos. This werewolf will serve you Master Wiseman for freeing me from this shell that I've been in for so long." Lykos said to me bowing. "Now that I have a werewolf on my team I'd love to see how Travis will fare against my army now." I thought. I turned around to take Lykos back to the cave with me and have him train with the others. "Soon my army will rise and the mages will fall along with the rest of humanity. Now it's time to get ready to move onto phase two."

(Travis's Viewpoint)

I awoke on the couch to see Amber laying on top of me just staring at me, I was shocked as I moved a bit too far and ended up falling onto the floor. Once on the floor I had my arms wrapped around her to keep her from falling or getting hurt, "I'm sorry about that you scared me. I didn't realize I fell asleep, how long have I been out?" I asked.

Amber had this smile on her face, "About thirty minutes now. Fifteen minutes ago when I got out of the bathroom you were moaning and then screamed the words help me. I came out into the living room seeing you were having a nightmare and I calmed you down. You started to calm down right away and then I lay on top of you until you woke up. You really scared the heck out of me." She said. I knew I had the same recurring nightmare over and over again.

I looked down to see that she was wrapped in a big towel, "Umm I'm guessing you didn't get a chance to dress up did you?" I asked.

She leaned herself backwards until she was just sitting on me, "Does it make you embarrassed? I mean we are dating aren't we?" She said. I never really came out and asked her out but after hearing this I think she already knew, "I haven't even taken you out on a date yet." Amber then leaned forward as her face hovered over mine, "Then we are going to have to fix that aren't we?" She said as she stood up and walked back to the bathroom to finish getting changed. I walked to the kitchen and got a glass of water, "I'm not sure if I'm ready to date. But maybe I should give it a try." I thought to myself.

I heard Amber call out to me from the bathroom, "Want to tell me what nightmare you were having? If I remember correctly, the day that monster attacked me while you were on the hill at the park, you were having the same nightmare correct? Maybe you can conquer it by talking about it?" She suggested. I walked back to the couch and sat down, "Maybe I should since I've only told one person plus I think I can trust Amber."

I invited her to sit next to me, "I was eight years old when this happened. I had a friend named Mark Boger and he was mostly my only and best friend. We had been friends for about a year and a half and I lived on this street call Winthrop in Toledo Ohio. The neighborhood I grew up on was mostly gang infested and this one had its own gang that would always terrorize me or beat me till I couldn't stand. I lived in fear of this gang who picked on me the day I moved there. My parents were always busy leaving me alone with our neighbor Rose Greene. She was a kind old lady who loved to watch me. One day while Rose was asleep and my parents were out I went outside because I didn't want to be cooped up in the house. The gang leader Terrion White who was fifteen at the time, had started doing his normal routine of beating me to a pulp. That's when I saw a kid with dirty blonde hair, white skin, blue eyes, run up and push him off of me. He took me back to his place and had his parents help patch me back up. His name was Mark Boger. It felt nice to have a friend who'd watch out for you. Our friendship was great for those two years, but then one day Mark and I were playing hide and seek and I had to hide. I went hiding in his fenced in backyard. Sometime had passed and I wasn't sure where Mark was. I think about half an hour had passed. I decided to go out looking for him and I walked from the fence to the roadway in between his house and his neighbors."

I ended up stopping the story there as I began to choke up, "Hey babe what's wrong? Are you okay?" Amber asked me.

I didn't want to continue this story but I felt like I needed it off my chest so I went back to finishing the story, "There I saw Mark with tears going down his face as he approached me and shoved me on the ground. I had gotten back up to see Terrion walking with a couple members of his gang as they swarmed around me and started beating me one by one. I was on the ground covered all over in bruises and blood coming out of my mouth. I asked for Mark to stop this but all he said was "I'm sorry." As he punched me in the face three times. My screams reached his parents as they yelled out the window causing the gang to quickly leave. Mark stood there and I got up to only leave running back home torn apart at the core as my best friend sold me out to the gang. About a week went by from that incident and I saw Mark playing outside, I had avoided him this entire time and I approached him filled to the brim with hatred. I came up behind him without noticing and shoved him on the ground. When I got him on the ground I began punching him in the face. He was telling me to stop but I wouldn't listen, he reached for my throat and began stabbing his fingers into it but I ignored the pain as I grabbed him by the throat and slammed it up against the pavement. I yelled at him asking why he did what he did and then I noticed that his hands fell to his side and he started to black out. His family came running and pulled me off as his mom called 9-1-1 and he was sent to the hospital. I never heard from him again."

I realized that telling this story was hard on me because I had severely regretted what I had done. I began bursting into tears as Amber sat on my knees and put my face against her chest, "You're okay Travis, and everything will be okay." She said in a whisper. It was hard for me to open up like this again, "It's why I chose to stay alone for so long, I was afraid of making friends only to be hurt again. I didn't work on myself because it was just me and my parents. I refused to have friends because I was afraid of them stabbing me in the back." I cried a bit more as Amber still kept me embraced.

"I'm sorry I normally don't tell anyone about that. I try to keep that part of me to myself." I ended up starting to dry my tears and I had Amber get off of me as I went to the kitchen and splashed some water on my face. "I wonder what's going through her mind now knowing this part of me." I thought in my head. I grabbed a sheet of paper towel that was next to the sink and dried my face with it. When I turned around I saw Amber standing in front of me.

She started walking slowly to me as she put her hands on my chest and moved them up to my neck, "You've been through so much pain. I can relate to that and as long as I'm near you, I won't let you suffer that pain anymore. If you should I'll stay by your side through it all." She said softly. My mind became exceedingly calm the closer Amber got to me and then her hands wrapped around my neck and I bent down as she kissed me and all of the sadness and pain I had to experience again suddenly vanished and something warm took its place. "Maybe us being a thing won't be all bad." I said as I picked up Amber and pinned her against the wall as we kept kissing. The feeling I had was something I had never felt before and I ended up getting lost in that emotion. Suddenly I put Amber down so she could stand and she grabbed my hand as she started walking me to her bedroom, "You seem like you could use some fun." She said to seductively. Once we got into her bedroom, the door behind me closed and the next couple of hours became the best time of my life.


	15. Kamaitachi's Weakness

Author's Note: I introduce an OC character from a book series that I am writing on I will be publishing the book in the near future after making alot of adjustments to it. The character's name is Casey Morrison so just getting that out of the way. Casey is a character who's story is him fighting demons and other supernatural creatures along with a few of his friends. He and the love interest by the name Ashley will be in this chapter.

* * *

Night time fell as I had woken from passing out in Amber's bed. I looked at a clock in her small white bedroom, "Shoot it's midnight." I said aloud as I got up and started getting my clothes on. I about ran out the bedroom but I turned around and gently hugged Amber before leaving. I ran out the front door and got on my bike as I headed back to DJ's. I had gotten to the bridge where I fought Lizardman and noticed the city was doing reconstruction so I had no access to the bridge, "I'm going to have to take a detour to get home I guess." I looked to the left of me to see a street that led to the other bridge about half a mile from me. I revved up my bike and drove down the street. All that surrounded me was some trees on my left and a cornfield to my right.

While driving down I saw someone run out the cornfield looking all worn out and in need of help. I quickly hit the brakes on my bike and got off to help them. I ran up to them, "What's wrong?" I asked worried.

The people who had run out were the people I saved from that fire, "Our son is dead in the cornfield! A red phantom that had the face of a bird was standing over him. We chased after him into the cornfield because he said he saw something." The father said. I looked in the direction he pointed at and I took out my Connect ring to grab my swordgun. Once I had it I told the family to wait here as I ran into the cornfield. I kept pushing the corn away from me and when I got the middle of the field I noticed a wide circle of corn on the ground like it was a circular wrestling ring. In the middle of the open field was the father but the mother wasn't anywhere to be found, but there was a boy who had blonde hair, glasses, stood at my height, wearing blue jeans and a flannel shirt. He was also white skinned and stood next to the father.

"My name is Kamaitachi, this is Manitcore as well as this will be the spot where you die ring bearing magician." He said as the two transformed into their monster forms. "So I'm having to fight a weasel and some insect looking monster? This will be fun." I took out my Flame Style Ring and slid it on my hand as I turned on my Wizardriver.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

"We aren't anything like the other Phantoms you've fought. We were all killed by Phantoms rather than despaired. If you expect to beat us as easily as the others that were despaired born than I'm sorry to say that you will be extremely disappointed." Kamaitachi said. I didn't know how much stronger Phantom Borns were but I was able to find out.

 **"** **Flame, please. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

A red circle formed in front of me and I ran through it, "Now it's showtime." I had my sword in hand as Kamaitachi threw a bunch of stones onto the ground and they formed into Ghouls. I was up against two Phantoms and at least ten ghouls. I rushed at the first Ghoul and it raised its spear weapon and went to attack me by bringing it down in a straight line. I raised my blade up to stop the attack and then dropped my sword as I spun around him until my shoulder was next to his. While that was happening I scanned my ring on the now open black hand of my sword.

 **"** **Flame Slash Strike! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

I lifted my right leg and kicked the Ghoul in his side pushing him back and then with my blade lit up in flames I swung it slashing the ghoul in his side and then pulled the trigger on my blade as I spun it a circle. The circle of fire formed around me and then reach out to kill all the other ghouls but barely touching the Phantoms. A huge explosion happened and from the ashes I watched as Manticore came running up at me with a bo staff, I quickly turned my sword into a gun and shot multiple bullets at him and when they hit I watched as the Phantom was sent flying backwards a good few feet and was writhing in pain.

"The pain makes me feel like I'm about to die! It hurts! It hurts!" Manticore screamed. Kamaitachi looked really confused as to why the bullets did more damage than they should have, I know because I was confused to. I slowly approached the injured Phantom having a hard time getting up. I watched as Manticore reached its hand out towards Kamaitachi, "Help me up." He said. I pulled back on the black thumb of my sword and scanned my transformation ring over it.

"They are in the perfect line for me to get both of them at once." I thought as my sword began creating fire around the blade. I pulled the trigger.

 **"** **Flame Slash Strike."**

I swung the blade where the tip of my blade was behind me and then upwards as a curve of fire ran towards Manticore. Then another Phantom jumped out, "Hydra!" Manticore said surprised. She put her hands up to hold back the slash and then I watched as Kamaitachi shot out two chain sickles, one for Manticore and the other landing in the back of Hydra. I watched as Kamaitachi manipulated some wind to have him fly up in the air as the slash stopped at Manticore's body and all that was left was a burning line. Kamaitachi flew away in a random direction from the site and I walked back into the cornfield and de-transformed. "What was that all about? Why did he attack his teammates?" I wondered as I jogged back to my bike.

Once back I summoned out my Plamonsters.

 **"** **Unicorn, please.**

 **Garuda, please.**

 **Kraken, please."**

It had been a while since I used these guys and when they were brought out they three were not happy to see me. "Look I know I haven't used you guys in a while but I really need your help." I said apologetically. The three eventually calmed down and I gave them the instructions. "I need you to follow and find a weasel Phantom. Possibility it might fly, and because I know you three, the first one to find the Phantom and where it's located will go on my next mission with me." I said to them. The three began butting heads and by the looks of it they were making bets at who would find the Phantom first before splitting up and going in different directions. "Those three love it when they help me fight Phantoms. Glad to see some things haven't changed." I thought as I drove back to DJ's as I thought about what I had learned from this fight and still questioned why those Phantoms were really weak.

(Kamaitachi's Viewpoint)

I had flown in a random direction and then turned around as I headed back to the southern area of Bowling Green where the cave was located. I flew through the barrier and landed near the giant cave that was in front of me. I quickly rushed inside to tell Wiseman what I had just experienced. But when I got inside Phoenix was there talking to Wiseman. Wiseman noticed my presence, "Where's Manticore and Hydra?" He asked. "Dead sir, Wizard wiped them out with just a few hits. I fled fearing for my life. Manticore said something about how just the bullets Wizard gave out nearly killed him." Wiseman seemed confused at this and he came over and placed his hand on my head. When he did I saw something glow around his hand.

"I thought it wouldn't be this easy." He said as he walked away. Phoenix was confused as to what was going on, "What's wrong Wiseman?" Phoenix asked.

Wiseman walked back into his curtained room and came back out with a bright yellow magical stone, "I've been infusing two of the three magical stones I have with my mana and a small bit of my life force. These were made in case I ever needed them. These stones are basically stones that have a ton of mana put into them. If I'm correct, I will fuse this stone into you Kamaitachi and when I'm done you should have as much power, stamina, endurance, and everything that a high powered Phantom has like Phoenix, Medusa, and Gremlin has."

I was confused at that last name, "Gremlin sir?"

Wiseman let out a sigh, "She isn't with us right now. Gremlin is out doing her own thing…If we want to call it that." He said. Wiseman walked over to me and had me turned around, "Let's get started now." I looked behind me to see Wiseman raise the stone and slam it into my back. The stone started ripping my skin apart as it forced itself into my back. It took everything I had to stand up straight as a stone started becoming one with my body. The pain had finally stopped and when I looked over my shoulder I saw about three inches of this big stone sticking out of my back. I reverted to my human self and I noticed the stone was gone, "The stone will only be revealed when you are a Phantom. With this you should be able to rival Wizard's Flame Dragon and Water Dragon forms. You will be the ultimate Phantom that controls the wind." Wiseman said.

I was amazed as the power began coursing through my body, "I'm going to kill Wizard and I think I know exactly where I'm going to start." I said laughing evilly.

Wiseman wanted to know what my plan was, "I know a girl who could use a little despair. She just lost her parents in a murder down in South Toledo and has moved here with her brother. Medusa wanted me to do something about it the other day so I'm going to go give that a look see." I said as I whipped out a photo of a young Mexican girl with long tinted blonde hair. I walked out of the cave as I began to stalk her daily routines.

(Travis's Viewpoint)

-The Next Day-

My alarm started blaring as I got up to get ready for training with Master Lee. I walked out into the living room to see only DJ watching the news on the corn crop down the street being destroyed. "I'm surprised that for once something I'm involved in is on the news." I said to DJ walking down the steps in the middle of the room. DJ looked over at me,

"Nah the bank was a thing it's just they didn't show you because the cameras were damaged prior to you showing up." He had a point and I put on my shoes and grabbed my jacket off the coat hanger by the door, "Heading out so soon? Don't you want some breakfast?" He asked me.

I thought about it, "I think I'll pick something up when I get done with practice. I'm not really in the mood to eat right now plus I'm going to be late." I said as I walked out the door. Seeing DJ reminded me about that time he was in his office crying over a photo, "I wonder what happened." I asked myself as I got on my bike and rode to the other side of town.

Once I got to the dojo I saw Lee outside enjoying some tea on the sunny day we were having. I pulled into the parking lot and walked up to him. When I did he told me to sit, "Have some tea, it's good for the body. Also I hope you have the next two hours ready for me because I am going to have you spar with someone who is already inside and says he was looking for the hero of this world."

I didn't know what he meant but if I was going to be sparring with someone then I was all for it, "I wonder who came here to try out Master Lee's dojo." I said as I sipped some tea. "Green tea is a great drink before having this intense work out." Lee said to me.

I was curious as to who was in the building, "What kind of fighter do we have in the dojo?" I asked him.

He looked at me with a smile on his face, "Patience. You will find out in three…Two…One." Once was done with the countdown I heard the door behind us open up and a light brown skinned male, my height, short black hair, wearing a black long sleeve shirt with the neck area covered, black cargo's and black shoes with a white stripe going around the shoe standing behind me. He was kind of muscular as I could tell looking at his arms and legs. He had a black bag on him and two circular blades inside some weird holster. One blade was on each side of his legs located right above the kneecap. The blade on his left was a bright yellow while the one on his right was a deep red and black colored one.

"Hi my name is Travis Edge, I'm guessing you're my sparring partner for this class session?" I said holding my hand out to him. He looked at my hand and grabbed it.

"Oh so you're the strong fighter Master Lee was talking about. This looks like it will be a great sparring match. My name's Casey Morrison." He said. He seemed to be really energetic but I felt like there was something more to him than what he was giving off. Master Lee got up and brought his tea set into the dojo. We all walked inside and I watched Casey unbutton his holsters that held his blades in them and laid them on the bleachers and then put his book bag next to them, "Are those real?" I asked confused. He turned around and looked at me.

"Yep they are real. I have six more in my bag. Just to let you in on a little secret, each one does something special, not as extremely flashy as what you can do but they each do something pretty cool." Casey said. He seemed to know something about me and I wasn't sure if Master Lee had said something to him about me being Masked Rider Wizard. I was going to ask him straight out but we both got instructed to walk out to the rectangle mats to begin our sparring session.

"In this sparring session I want you both to put your hands behind your back and keep them there. Land two clean hits using only your feet but at no point should your hands leave your back." He instructed us. I looked over at Casey who had this interesting look in his eyes, "I'm kind of used to using my hands so I'm interested in seeing how experienced and how far I've come these past six years in fighting with just using my feet." He said with a bit of excitement.

"The past six years? Just us standing here I feel a bit like he's been through hell. Is he stronger than I am?" I thought as I stared at his stance. He kept one foot out and the other foot in the back but his toes were pointed sideways. I put one foot forward and kept the other in the back with both my toes pointing forward.

"Fighter's ready?" Lee asked us.

Casey gave this intimidating look on his face, "Yes." We both said at the same time. Lee had his hand up in the air and threw it down, "FIGHT!" As soon as Lee called us to fight Casey took one step and when he did he was right up in my comfort zone with his right leg right next to my face. I bent down to dodge it and he followed it up with jumping off his left leg and swung his entire body around in a circle as his left leg kicked me hard in my chest. I kept my arms locked in place and put my body weight on my feet as I slid backwards trying to not fall.

"HO!" Lee said.

We went back to our places before the fight and Lee held up a finger in Casey's direction, "1-0" He said with the zero being in my direction. He asked us if we were ready, assumed our stances, and then the fight started again.

"Six years? Feels like he's been fighting at least three times that much. His speed is amazing, he puts a lot of his strength behind those kicks like he is trying to break boulders, and on top of it all he is able to think many moves ahead as well as being cunning. He knew that if I dodged it would lead up to a perfect chance to knock me off my balance and come in with a surprise kick. I think I should study how he fights and implement it into my fighting." I ran at Casey after my thought and stopped when I got behind him.

I raised my leg to return the kick to his face but he just bent backwards all the way close to the floor at a quick pace with my foot missing him by mere inches and when he got back up I had sent my other foot to kick him in the hip. He saw that coming and jumped sideways in the air as well as over my head. I looked up at him as he had this big smile on his face. Once he moved right past me he stopped himself in midair and brought his left foot down to kick me. I quickly jumped back as Casey fell onto the ground. He caught himself with his feet as the foot he was using hit the ground first and Casey's body was at angle on the ground as he sat on his right leg, "Wasn't expecting you to notice that at last second. You're really good at keep up with my speed." He said laughing. This kid wasn't even breaking a sweat as I was sweating just a bit. Casey stood back up and dashed over to me. Once he got close he jumped into mid-air and came in like he was doing a Rider Kick in midair at me. I moved to the left and raised my right leg high up as I could and kicked him in the side as hard as I could and sent him flying across the mat, "HO!" Lee said. We returned back to our spots with Casey holding his side. I saw something bright shining where I kicked him but it was only a faint light and then it was gone.

"Can you keep fighting?" Lee asked Casey. Casey said yes. "1-1." Lee said. He then had us start the fight again, "In this fight you are allowed to use your hands no head shots if you do hit your opponent's head it will not count as a point. Fight!" Casey stayed in his same stance but now his hands were out in a boxing style and I kept mine against my sides waiting to see what he would do. I took one step and Casey being as fast as he was, was now back in my comfort zone he had raised a leg to kick my left side but I flipped over his leg and then went to punch him but he took his left arm and tried to arm bar me which I swung my head underneath it to dodge it. He took his right foot and came back to kick me in the face while dodging but I quickly stood straight back up and caught his foot and held onto it as I swung him off balance as he fell onto the ground.

I jumped up in the air and was going to palm him in the chest but when I was right above him he rolled to his left side and then he crouched. He jumped at me while I was still in midair and we turned out fight into a submission match. We rolled on the ground as he had me in a headlock with his legs wrapped around my waist and I was having hard time breathing. "You're pretty good at fighting, but I have more of an upper hand and more experience than you. The longer you struggle the more tightly my grip will be just tap." He said to me. I ceased a bit of my breathing and thought about how I was going to get out of my predicament.

"I'm pretty much laying on top of him if I could roll onto my stomach I can use that to push myself up and then fall backwards slamming his back on the mat which should give me enough time from the pain he is going to get to break free." I thought. I tried moving my body left and right and he tightened his hold on me. I knew that I only had one more chance before I tapped out and then I put a lot of my energy into moving to the right and I was successful. His grip got really tight as I forced myself stand up and I could tell I didn't have a lot of oxygen left in me to keep fighting. So I jumped up a bit in the air and slammed him on the ground which caused him to release his hands off my throat. I started coughing hard as oxygen came back to me.

I quickly turned to face Casey who jumped back up, "That's a nice and risky move you did. I think it's time I finish things here." He said to me.

I looked at him with this competitive face, "Yea I think it's time we should end this too." Something blurry was going on around Casey's body and in an instant he was gone and I heard a step from behind me. I turned around to see Casey standing behind me and I quickly went in to a roundhouse kick which he dropped to the ground and then vanished again. He was now on my right and I thrusted my body to do a punch and he dodged by going underneath my fist and then grabbed my wrist and pulled me in to punch me in the gut which I then countered by turning my body to the left as quickly as I could. I then raised my right knee and pulled him into my knee making contact with his chest and he got kicked back a few feet, "HO!" Lee said. Casey got up with some sweat finally showing and me breathing heavily.

"2-1. Travis wins. Attention! Bow! Shake hands." Me and Casey both bowed to each other and then walked up to shake each other's hands.

"That was a really great fight man. I wasn't expecting you to break free from my head lock." Casey said to me. I was still trying to figure out how Casey had this whole blur thing going on and how he was so quick to be behind me in an instant, "It's almost like he teleported that has to be the thing. I wonder who this guy is." I said as we both heard a clap from the bleachers. We both looked over to see a very cute white girl with black shorts, a baseball sleeved shirt with the chest part being white and the sleeves dark blue, long flowing black hair, and blue eyes staring at Casey. She had gotten off the bleachers and ran towards him and hugged him. Casey grabbed her and spun her around and then kissed her on the lips, "Oh my God it's great to see you babe. I thought you were busy today?" Casey said excited.

The girl chuckled and I noticed that she was the same height at Casey maybe just an inch or two shorter. "I was in the area and you said something about coming over here so I decided to stop by. I just got here while you were sparring." She said.

She was holding something in her hands and I walked up to her, "Who is your girlfriend Casey?" I asked him. He hugged the girl in question harder with this bright smile on his face but before he got a chance to speak the girl spoke up, "Oh hey sorry about that. My name is Ashley Fre-Ow! Morrison. Ashley Morrison. Sorry I'm trying to get used to the new last name. I'm Casey's fiancé." She said with her hand held out.

I reached out to shake it, "My name's Travis Edge, nice to meet you." I said. Her hands were extremely soft and seeing her up close I noticed that her blue eyes had these shard like shape, like her eyes were ice fragments. I looked at Casey, "Wow she is really something man. How long have you guys known each other?" I asked with my breath a bit taken away.

"Six years. She was one of the few people that were there for me in my darkest hours and one of the few that not only believed in me, but stayed and fought by my side no matter what I was going through. She means everything to me." Hearing him say this reminded me of my friends who have been there for me since I became Wizard. Ashley wanted to tell something to Casey and had to pull him away from the dojo. So my teacher had us properly excused from class and I stayed by to talk to my teacher as he explained to me what I could've done better at the sparring match. About an hour had gone by before I left the dojo and headed home to see my friends.

I walked back into DJ's to see Robin talking to Karina about something. "Hey guys what's up?" I said.

Robin quickly ran up to me, "Oh thank goodness you're here Travis! I need your help with something can you come down to the station with me real quick? I think I've found a Gate and need to offer protection for her." She said as she grabbed me by the back of my jacket and began pulling me towards the cop car outside. I was pretty much forced inside the car and Robin drove away, "I was hoping to have some plain sugar donuts when I got back." I said sadly.

Robin held out a bag of donuts to me, "Eat these if you're hungry." She said. I looked inside the bag to see only apple fritters, "I'm kind of hoping for something Plain Sugary." I said in response. She grabbed the bag, "Fine then more for me." She said eating the donut in front of me. I looked out the window as we drove into town, "I have a strong feeling this is going to be a long day." I said sighing as I just stared out the window.


	16. Hurricane Dragon Overdrive!

Robin was driving me down the street and we got to the downtown police station. Once there Robin had me walk inside with her and then took an elevator to the top floor and we walked inside one of the temporary holding cells, similar to the one Robin put me in when we first met during that bank being destroyed. Inside one of the cells was a girl who had long blonde hair, she had hazel eyes, was brown skinned with pink fingernails, wearing this long sleeve black shirt that hugged her body, and these black skinny jeans. She was sitting in the corner of her cell and she looked scared. Robin opened the door, "She doesn't talk much and all I got out of her was her name. She was saying something to the police officer about how she is a Gate and wanting to know what that means. If you look at her back she has a cut on the neck like someone swung a blade and it missed." Robin seemed to be very worried about this girl. I walked inside the cell and sat in the opposite side of the room with her.

"You know these cells are unbearable. They had me locked in here once and I can tell you that it was very annoying." I said trying to break the ice. She curled her legs up to her face and buried them in. She was also shaking like she was scared of me. I pulled out my Connect Ring, "Mind if I show you something special? You're probably hungry so let me get you something to eat." I said as I scanned my ring over my belt.

 **"** **Connect, please."**

The girl snapped her head up quickly as she saw me reach my arm inside a red circle and pulled out a bag of donuts from inside. I looked through the bag and pulled out a Plain Sugar donut, "You know there is one more donut in here, and I'd hate to have it go to waste." I said teasing her. I heard her stomach make a loud noise and I put the bag in front of her. She looked at the donut bag and in a flash grabbed it and started eating the donut like she hasn't eaten in days. I was halfway finished with my donut when she reached her hand out expecting me to put something on her hand. "Do you want this?" I asked her. She nodded her head up and down, "Are you sure? I was eating this." I said to her. I ended up putting the donut on her hand and she ripped it in half and gave me the other one.

I looked at her and noticed how beautiful she was. I noticed she was clutching her chest like she was holding on to something. "What are you holding on to?" I asked.

She took out a necklace that was around her neck and held it up in the air, "Familia." She said. I knew from her skin tone that she was Mexican and her accent was really fluent.

I looked at her, "Family. Your family gave that to you?" I asked her. She nodded her head.

I heard Robin say something, "Her family were killed a couple years back. The only remaining person she has is her sister by the name of Maria Urbieta. That's her older sister and according to what we know, Maria lives in this city."

I looked back at the girl, "Can you speak English?" I asked her.

The girl looked back at me, "Yes." I felt relieved for I didn't know much Spanish considering I was half Mexican.

"What is your name?" I asked her.

She had a really fluent English accent as well when she responded, "My name is Manuela Urbieta." I asked her about her saying something about being a Gate and the monster that was after her.

She kind of froze up and then wouldn't talk to me, "Robin. I think I'm going to take her to DJs. Can you get the forms for me and I'll have DJ over here to pick her up. She needs a safe place where the Phantoms can't touch her." I asked Robin.

Robin had this smile on her face, "Sure but can you do me a favor if I do this?" She said with this weird look on her face. "Yea sure what is it?" I asked.

"I want to show you what I can do as a police officer. Maybe we will find a Phantom or Ghouls while I'm on parole." I had this thought that this might work so I agreed and I told Manuela that I was moving her to safe place and called up DJ to see if he could pick her up. Once DJ came by with his old car and got Manuela, Robin put me in the passenger seat and we drove off to parole around town. While paroling around town I observed as Robin did a couple of speeding tickets, and some parking tickets as well. She seemed really bored with what she does, "Is your job always like this?" I asked her.

She had kept her hands on the steering wheel, "Yea pretty much. Other than Phantom attacks there isn't really much to do in this city. I don't even get the chance to arrest somebody I haven't had any arrests in the past three months. I sometimes wish I could do more to help people with my profession." She seemed really down about the whole thing.

I decided to change the topic to so she can probably cheer up, "I see you still wear the Engage Ring. You can always take it off so why do you keep it on?" I asked her.

She had a little smile on her face as she looked at the ring, "I guess it just helps. I mean you saved my life and my mom's. Somehow when I wear this ring I feel like nothing can ever put me back down. I feel more motivated to work harder, because when you saved my life you put your life on the line. Even when you weren't fully able and fit to fight you worked your way through all the pain to save two strangers who you didn't even know. Wearing this ring makes me happy for the life I have and happy that I'm your friend." She said keeping a smile. I was really moved and happy to hear those words. "I have a police officer, a girl who lost her brother and nowhere to go, a man who is well respected in the town, an eccentric and energetic kid, and a girlfriend who cares about me as friends. Maybe I shouldn't hold onto my past anymore, maybe with the people I'm with, just maybe, I can start picking up all the broken pieces and move on." I said looking out the window thinking about how happy my life is right now.

I saw something slammed into the window and fall to the ground as it was Garuda squawking. I had Robin stop the car as I got out and picked up Garuda, "Did you find anything out Garuda?" I asked the Plamonster. It's head was spinning around and I could hear the other Plamonsters quickly coming up to me. Kraken and Unicorn came up to me and all of them had said the same thing to me. "Manuela!" I said as my Plamonsters turned back into spell rings and I picked them up and got into police car, "We need to go. NOW! Manuela and DJ are being attacked by a Phantom. Robin started the police sirens as she began flooring down the street and on the way to DJ's. We were just minutes away from DJ's and once we arrived on the scene I saw a pure green phantom with swords looking like pieces of scissors pointed at DJ and Manuela. I quickly used my Connect Ring to grab my Swordgun and when the police car came to a stop I quickly got out of the car and scanned my Flame Ring over the black hand.

 **"** **Flame Slash Strike. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

I clicked on the trigger and pointed the tip at the ground and lifted it up in the air as a fiery blade went towards the green goblin like Phantom. I watched as the Phantom lifted its blades up to block the attack and then lifted my attack over its head and sent it into the sky.

"Whoa now there hottie I wouldn't just go thinking I'm such a big threat just yet. I'm not here to fight." The Phantom said with a female voice. I watched as the Phantom reverted into the girl Libby Woodruff. She was one of the people on that cave exploration five months ago.

"Says the person who holds a blade to my friend's throat. What do you want Libby." I said in a demanding tone.

She began laughing, "I'm not Libby Woodruff anymore, she was weak and only thought about fulfilling her sexual emotions. My name is Gremlin and like I said I'm not here to fight, but am wanting to give you a gift with no strings attached." Gremlin pulled out a giant green magic stone and stuck her hand out to me expecting me to take it, "I promise I don't bite." She said with this wicked smile.

I put my sword in gun mode and held it up with my barrel pointed at her, "I don't trust Phantoms, you guys are monsters that threaten humanity so don't think for a second I'll let one get close to me with my guard down." I said as I slowly walked over to her. I grabbed the stone and she began chuckling, "What are you laughing about?" I said concerned.

"You. What you just said was funny because you don't know a thing. Bye." She said as she jumped incredibly far. I quickly picked up Manuela and DJ off the ground, "She didn't hurt you did she?" I asked them. Manuela just bear hugged me scared for her life.

"Why did Gremlin come this far just to give me a green magical stone? It doesn't make any sense." I thought to myself. DJ got back in his car with Manuela, "We'll follow you back home and make sure your safe." Robin said to them. We then began to escort the two back to the house. Once there I instructed DJ to see if he can make rings out of the stone, "I should have them done by tonight. I think we can get two rings out of these." He said checking out the stone.

"This stone is pretty big, maybe I'll get a new form ring out of this?" I questioned him. I watched DJ walk inside and Manuela stayed by my side, still being a mute as ever. "You should go inside with him." I suggested to her. Manuela shook her head and stayed attached to my side, "Look as long as you stay here the Phantoms can't find you. I will be back by tonight, is there anything you like to eat? I'll pick it up and we can have dinner." I was able to get her to calm down and she started walking towards the house, "I want shrimp lo mein from Bamboo Garden." She said softly and then walked inside the house. I turned around and got in the car with Robin, "She seems to be really clingy." I said to her.

Robin looked at me, "I think she likes you. But keep in mind that she's been having a rough week, she might be holding on to you for some type of sanity." Robin said.

Robin was right though, I know nothing of this girl and she has been getting attacked by monsters threatening her life. Seeing as how she is quiet all the time I wouldn't put it past her that fearing for her life every day would not cause her to have some mental issues, especially having a blade to her throat because of Gremlin. I looked back over at Robin as we were driving over the expressway, "What makes you think she likes me? I'm already in a relationship." I asked.

Robin had this cheeky smile, "Women's intuition, I just know." I never understood that phrase that women used all the time, I just learned to accept it and move on. I summoned out Garuda and asked it to keep an eye over Manuela and the others and then summoned out Kraken and Unicorn to scout around town for Kamaitachi. I was quite amazed because Kraken and Unicorn combined together so that Unicorn had tentacles allowing them both to fly through the air. "That's actually quite something." I said surprised. Robin was kind of shocked to see a Unicorn with tentacles around it's body, "That freaks me out." She said with a bit of a scared look on her face.

A couple of hours had gone by and Robin had me sitting in the police station just waiting for her to get done filing paper work. Unfortunately for me I had to be her assistant in retrieving documents. I wasn't supposed to be past the door that was for authorized personnel only, but since the police station knew who I was and how I'm helping the city, I got a free pass. There was this one black guy with a bald head and a bit overweight that does paperwork for the city and was a really nice guy. When he came into work he bought everyone coffee from Grounds for Thought and when he noticed me in the office and we talked for a bit, went out and bought me some hot chocolate since I didn't particularly care for coffee. Everyone was busy working and me being the guy who was to give paperwork and act like a secretary to Robin wasn't really working out as I'd hope…And that's because Robin went and did everything that I was supposed to do.

"I guess she's very independent and seems to be a hard worker." I thought to myself. I was looking at a few of the documents and then I noticed a missing child folder next to the huge stack of papers. I opened it and looked inside to see that the folder was dated back four and a half months ago and every paperwork contained the people who were on the cave exploration.

Me, Karina, and Amber Wild had a stamp that said, "Found." I was pretty curious so I looked at the rest of the of the missing people's report. "Tyler Cox, Elizabeth Woodruff, Mary Samson, Karina Medrano, Travis Edge, Amber Wild, Jacob Smith, Alexander Smith, and Andrew Boes." I said under my breath. I wrote the names down on a separate piece of paper and then crossed off the ones that were either Phantoms or alive. "Me, Amber, and Karina are alive and well. But Elizabeth Woodruff is Gremlin, if she became a Phantom I wonder what happened to the rest." I wondered. Then I noticed something on Amber's missing report, "Hey Robin can I ask you a question?" I asked.

Robin looked up at me, "Yea what is it?" She while resuming her work to answer me. I picked up the page with Amber on it and walked over to her, "This was in the file for people who were missing during the cave exploration right?" I said putting Amber's paper down in front of her.

"Yea why do you ask?" Robin said looking confused. I pointed to the date Amber went missing, "September 3rd 2012 is her date of disappearance, but the cave exploration was March 13th 2014, that's also Amber's birthday. So where was Amber from September 3rd of 2012 to March 13th 2014?"

Robin didn't know anything about that and was kind of sad that she overlooked something so small. "I'm not sure but I'll go figure out something and I'll get back with you." She looked kind of worried and I knew that the next time I saw Amber I'd ask her where she was during the six months.

I heard my phone go off and I picked it up and flipped it open to see Karina having texted me, "Bro you need to get home quick Manuela ran away!"

I quickly responded with me coming home through the text and I quickly grabbed Robin, "We have an emergency. Manuela ran from the house and if she gets caught by the Phantom she'll die. We need to go now!" I said worried for her safety. Robin and I ran out the building as quick as we could. I instructed her to go to DJ's and see if the new rings were set to go and I summoned out my Machine Winger bike and quickly drove off to find Manuela. I called Karina to give her some instructions, "I need you to use your crystal ball and instruct the Plamonsters to find Manuela, if she just left she shouldn't be far. Once they find her have them give you the location and I'll be there." I said to her. Karina agreed and hung up on me, "Damn it Manuela why did you run away?"

(Manuela's Viewpoint)

I was running to a big cornfield that was about a mile out from where Travis's home. I was running because I saw a photo on my cell phone of what looked like someone close to me and I was supposed to meet the weasel looking Phantom in the middle of the cornfield if I expected to see her alive. I finally got out to a cornfield and stopped running and put my hands on my knees panting heavily from my huge run, "Need to get in shape more." I said breathing heavily. I heard a neigh coming up behind me and when I turned around I saw nothing but kept hearing that neigh sound like some horse was close by. I thought I was getting delusional and began walking into the cornfield hoping to reach the middle of it, "Sister…Please be here, I just need to see that you're alright." I thought as I began walking slowly into the cornfield.

I could heard the corn brushing up against my shoulders as I moved past them and my heart started beating rapidly and fear began to move over me. I could hear something about ten feet ahead of me and I started to creep closer, "Maria!" I yelled out. I started getting closer to the middle of the crop field and when I was close I heard something like a chain come towards me and hit me across my face causing me to fall backwards and pass out.

I woke up to see my arms and legs bound in chains and I was in the middle of the field where a good portion of it was cut down. I looked around and then noticed that someone was up against my back. I looked over to see my sister bound the same way I was and her clothes were ripped in different places and she was also passed out. I tried to speak but I had tape over my mouth as well as she did. Suddenly I saw a tall white boy with tinted blonde hair and glasses wearing a flannel shirt and blue jeans walk out from inside the cornfield. "So you're up? Oh that's good because when I sent my chain into the cornfield and hit you I thought I might've killed you. Which that would be really bad, but seeing as how you're still alive is good because you will wish you died from that attack." The kid said to me with a wicked smile on his face. He began walking towards me and placed his hands on my face, "So you're the Gate Medusa was talking about huh? You look really pretty but not my type, you see I like woman that are not all right in the head. I can tell that you are probably more stable in your head but once I get done with your sister here that will be a different story perhaps." I looked over to see my sister get dragged away from me and I was screaming through the tape but I knew that nothing I did was going to work.

"Nobody will come for us. No one will know to look for us in a cornfield and even if they did nobody will care about me dying. People will care about Maria because she was not just more beautiful than me but was well known in East Toledo for selling cars and always being active. Even at school people would swarm her but not me." I started self-doubting myself as tears began falling down my face and I was still screaming as I was scared to lose my sister, the last person in this country that was not just my family, but my greatest friend. Maria knew that her popularity bothered me a bit but I never got upset or made a big deal about it. I didn't really care living a hermit life. But it did greatly lower my self-esteem and confidence.

I didn't care because I had my sister by my side, she was my world and my greatest hope to get through the darkest days. I didn't want to lose her but now I felt like I would. The boy stood in the middle of the field and woke Maria up, "Hey little girl wake up." He said shaking her head. I saw Maria slowly wake up and when she did she saw me. She began talking to me but her voice was muffled and she couldn't say anything clearly. I could tell on her face that she was terrified. The boy walked in front of the both of us and then looked and pointed at Maria, "Here is what's going to happen. You will be killed by me and your death will give rise to the Phantom in your sister over here." That last part he turned around and pointed at me. He then turned around and ripped the duct tape off Maria, "Please! Leave her out of this! That's my sister! She is the last bit of family I have in this country! Please let her go and you can have me!" She said crying and begging in front of this boy.

She was crying so much, "Please just let her go I don't know what's going on but that's my sister." The boy started having a purple mist swarm over his body and I watched as he transformed into this green entity with a face of a weasel and chains wrapped around his arms leading into his hands with sickles in his hands. He had this huge yellow gem stone sticking out of his back. "I'm afraid I can't do that because your life is worth as much as this corn in the field. Her life ending is worth a lot more. So I would stop crying and acting like you can save her if you know what's good for you." He said staring at her eyes. Maria looked up ready to beg some more but the monster kicked her across her face causing Maria to fall on her side.

I screamed her name as much as I could through the duct tape as Maria repositioned herself with a bruise now forming on her cheek. The monster raised his foot and kicked her in the chest and then stood on her stomach with the same foot, "Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to stomp once from your stomach up to your head. The first stomp will be light enough to feel pain but the closer I get to your head the harder I'm going to step on you. If the chest area doesn't kill you nor does the throat getting smashed, then the face will. I could cut you slowly but this will be a lot more fun. Then if your sister hasn't started despairing then I will cut your head off right in front of her face." He said to her. I began screaming more but nothing was working and I was feeling my world come to a stop.

"What have I done to deserve this? Why am I going through this? Why choose me who hasn't done anything to anyone? This must be a nightmare." I said in my head. I watched as the monster raised his foot and stomped on her stomach as Maria's head snapped up and made a painful moan. The monster then brought his foot up to her diaphragm area and stomped on the causing some weird sound to come out of Maria's mouth and I could tell she was having a hard time breathing. I screamed out to my sister wishing this would all just end.

"Please! Please someone save her! My world is starting to fade and I'm being forced to watch my sister get murdered! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!" I screamed inside my head. "Oh did you pass out? Well then let's just start with the head then I might as well smash that into the ground." He said as he raised his foot really high. I was able to wet the duct tape enough with my tears that I pushed some of it off my mouth and screamed, "Someone HELP MEEEEEEE!" I screamed waiting for the sound of his foot slamming on my sisters face. But instead I heard bullets fired and hitting the monster and it sent him flying near the corn that was still standing up. I looked over to see the boy that I met at the police station and he bent down and placed two fingers on Maria's neck.

(Travis's Viewpoint)

I bent down and placed my fingers on the girl's neck and noticed that she still had some air going through her body, "Thank God she's still alive. I thought I didn't make it in time." I said as I stood back up. "TRAVIS HELP ME!" I heard Manuela scream at me. Her face looking like she saw some real hell just now.

I lifted the girl in front of me and placed her next to Manuela, "Is this your sister?" I asked her. She said yes and I took the tape off Manuela's mouth, "I need you to stay here, I'll be back for you. Everyone from the house is on their way and they will get you to safety." I assured her. I heard a chain coming at me and I put my gun into sword mode and then turned around and slashed the chain knocking it towards the ground, "You monsters make me really sick you know that?" I said with a mean look on my face.

I began to slowly walk towards Kamaitachi and he fired two of his sickles at me. I sliced the first one away from me and used the bottom of my sword to knock the other to the right of me. I then grabbed both chains and wrapped them around my left arm and pulled him towards me. My pull was strong enough to send him fly to me which I then sliced him across his chest and then used my right elbow to upper punch him in the jaw and then I brought my sword back and thrusted forward. I pulled my sword back and raised my right foot and kicked him in the chest and sent him flying backwards onto the ground. Kamaitachi didn't explode like the others, "The other Phantoms died easily so why did that not kill you? I thought you were just like them?" I questioned him. The Phantom just laughed hysterically.

"That's because I got an upgrade Ring Bearing Magician. This stone on my back infuses me with more mana than your normal Phantoms. My power is right up there with Medusa, Phoenix, and Gremlin. So if you want to beat me you are going to have to try a lot harder than that." He said loudly. I raised my right hand and held it over my belt, "Driver On." I flipped the levers as I took out one of my transformation rings and slid it on my finger.

 **"** **Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform!**

 **Hurricane, please. Air! Air! Air! Air!"**

A green circle appeared next to me and moved through my body revealing my green and black form and when my transformation was complete I raised my hand in front of my face, "Now it's showtime." I said as I began running towards Kamaitachi. The chains around me started to move and I was sliced at my sides as the sickles went back to their owner. I fell onto my knees and then got back up. I reached for one of my spell rings and flipped the levers on my belt, "Let's see how well you fight blind." I said pulling out the Light Ring.

 **"** **Light, please."**

I shot out a flash of light and my enemy summoned out a giant wall of green air to the point that I can't see him. Once my spell hit the air, it got reflected back at me and I became blind. On top of that I was thrown backwards until I was next to Manuela.

I still had problems seeing but my vision was slowly starting to come back. I heard Manuela scream as well as a chain being rattled. "No!" I said as I stood in front of the two and took on about six different slashes that was probably intended for Maria. I stood my ground and tried my best to not fall but the pain was intense. "I don't know how my spell backfired to me. Was it his wall of wind? I think it might bounce back my spells I send at him so how do I fight something that can bounce my attacks back? Also by how it looks a physical attack won't work because those winds seem to be moving pretty quickly. I need to find a way to rip through his defense." I thought to myself. My vision was almost back and I noticed that his wind wall began to get slower and then shortly vanished.

"Still standing after that attack Wizard? I'm surprised, you must be doing everything in your power to not move knowing full well that if you move I'll strike the girl down and Manuela will be next to follow." Kamaitachi said laughing.

I noticed the giant stone in his back that was once shining bright now dimming very slowly, "I think when that gets darker then he should run out of mana and I can take him down. I'm going to need to hurry up though because I'm not going to be able to fight like this. Maybe I should get us all out of this cornfield." I thought. I pulled out a spell ring and scanned it over my belt.

 **"** **Copy, please."**

A blip sound was made as a green spell circle ran through me and created two of me. "Take those two to the road and have Unicorn that is on standby to go get Karina and the others." I said to my clones as they picked up the girls and ran straight out of the cornfield. Kamaitachi was laughing.

"Well now that the Gate is gone I can go full blown now can't I?" I watched as he began flying up into the air and I ran to grab my swordgun off the ground and I manipulated the oxygen around me to fly in the air as well.

Once I was at the height where he was at I heard the chains rattling from below. I used my sword to knock one away and then the other but they kept attacking me as soon as I knocked the other away. Then the chains came flying back to Kamaitachi and were levitating right in front of him. I watched as the chain sickles emanated this type of green mana and then they split apart forming six exact replica of chain sickles. "Oh boy that's not good." I said as I flipped my switches and scanned my ring.

 **"** **Copy, please."**

My belt said as I held my sword out and a second one formed in my hand. I kept the tip of the blade pointing sideways like I was going to box the attacks that were soon to come away from me, or back to their owner. I watched as Kamaitachi put one hand in front of his face and lifted the other one to command the chains to strike me. They came flying at me and I began my endless dance of knocking the sickles away from me and I kept knocking them away and then I fell for Kamaitachi's trap. The chains, once knocked away from me, swirled around me and wrapped me up.

Kamaitachi began summoning his chains to come back to him which brought me towards his him, "Tell me Wizard, since we are about a mile up in the air, I wonder what the impact on the ground would like if I slammed your shiny gem head into it?" Something started moving around my body when I was just inches from his face.

"Oh if you haven't noticed the chains and sickles abide to my will. This means that while we are spinning to the ground I will have my chains begin moving in a circle around your body and get tighter as close as we begin to get closer to the ground. This should kill you Wizard and then Manuela as well as Maria will be next to join you in your afterlife. I guess this is your finale huh?" I began to levitate until my back was facing the ground and I was looking at Kamaitachi's face as he hovered above me. "Sayonara Wizard." He said as the chains began spinning and tightening around my body rapidly. I screamed in pain and I ended up dropping my swords to the ground below.

A giant ball of green air began forming in front of us and then was shot into my chest as I began falling quickly to the ground and when I did I hit the road right outside the cornfields and a giant cracks ripped through the ground. The hole that was left with me in the middle was enough to cover about fifteen feet. I felt the chains unbind me and go back up into the air. I could see a small green tornado form around Kamaitachi's body and then he came falling down onto my chest as I felt a huge force of weight slam me about three inches deeper into the ground and a loud boom could be heard throughout the countryside. Kamaitachi dispersed his wind and I was just barely conscious, "TRAVIS!" I heard my friends in the distance say.

I reverted back to my human form and I felt my jacket get grabbed as I got carried out of the rubble and thrown far to my friends. I was able to land on my shoulder and roll to avoid any more harm to my body and when I did I laid on my back looking at Manuela who had her chains off of her and was surrounded by my friends.

Robin had the most feared look on her face as she withdrew her gun and pointed it at Kamaitachi while standing in front of my broken body, "Robin…Don't…" I said with the little air I could manage. I had hard time breathing and it felt like I was breathing with a boulder on top of my chest. No air wanted to go in my lungs and I think something was blocking air from going into them. DJ quickly pulled my shirt up to see that my bones were right up against my skin and my entire chest was bloated, "Oh my God…" DJ said. Looking at what I could I knew that I was going to die soon, "Not like this. It can't end like this. I have to save my friends otherwise they will die…" I thought to myself as my body started to shut down. Then I heard something off in the distance, "Travis, I'm hoping this will help." The voice sounded worried and kind of pitched.

 **"** **Go Dolphi! D-D-Dolphi!"**

I watched as from a cornfield a bunch of purple dots appeared and my friends backed away as the dots went to my chest and I felt my chest being fixed up and turned back to normal. Once my chest was fixed I felt oxygen going back into my lungs and I inhaled a crap ton of air and began coughing. Everyone was worried about where that purple dots came from, "Who's there?!" Kamaitachi yelled out as he looked around. I quickly stood up and looked in the direction of the cornfields but I didn't see anyone.

DJ and everyone swarmed me as Robin kept her position, "I'm so glad you're okay." Manuela said as she pushed everyone away and hugged me tightly and then quickly let go, "I'm sorry that was kind of sudden." She said shyly.

DJ held out two rings, "Can you still fight?" He asked.

I grabbed the two rings, "I think it's time for the finale." I said. I walked up to Robin and tapped her shoulder, "I'll take care of this." I said as I walked in front of her, "I don't know who is out there but when I get done destroying you I'm going to find the person who healed you and they will SUFFER!" Kamaitachi roared at me.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

My belt said as it revealed it's true appearance and I flipped the levers again.

 **"** **Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform!**

 **Hurricane Dragon! Blow! Blow! Blow! Blow!"**

A dragon roar was made as a green dragon emerged from the belt and spun in a circle as it hit my back and black wings formed along with my new form.

My green head piece was bigger and like the other forms had a gold jewel piece at the top. What was my normal forest green and black body armor was replaced with a neon green cape just like my Water Dragon and Flame Dragon. I took a stance with my transformation hand's fingers pointed to the lift and arm shoulder with apart, my spell hand stretched fully out, my right foot pointing sideways as my left foot stood in front pointing at Kamaitachi, "Now it's showtime." I said as I inhaled. I then exhaled slowly as Kamaitachi started summoning a giant tornado, "It doesn't matter what new form you have I'll rip your body to shreds with my ultimate tornado." He said with confidence.

The winds started to get stronger and I ran about ten feet from me to pick up one of my swords and held it up to my face, "Now that's not fair, you gave me a good pummeling, so how about I return the favor?" I asked as I pulled back the thumb and scanned my ring.

 **"** **Hurricane Dragon Slash Strike! Blow! Blow! Blow! Blow!"**

I then flipped the levers on my belt as I scanned my new spell ring,.

 **"** **Very Nice! Thunder! The Best!"**

Electricity and a huge brighter shade of green began to surround my blade and I ran towards the tornado as I heard my friends call out to me. I kept my spell hand above the belt and jumped sideways into the air as I struck my sword into the ground. Once my sword hit into the ground I pulled on the trigger as my electric wind shot straight into the ground and then appeared inside Kamaitachi's tornado and then I had control of his tornado.

I dispersed his tornado and three green spell circles appeared around him in the form of a triangle. Tornados made with electricity shot out of the circles and directly at Kamaitachi. The first one in the left corner hit him sending him to the top spell circle that shot out another same tornado and then the spell circle in the bottom right did the same keeping him in the middle trapped and in pain. His scream could be heard throughout the countryside. I then released my hand from over my belt and left my sword in the ground as my body became engulfed in green lightning and I controlled the wind to send me zooming straight up in the air, "YOUR FINALE!" I yelled at Kamaitachi.

The thunder became wrapping itself around me as I came zooming down with my foot and kicked him right in the chest and then the three tornados formed into one giant thunder tornado and slowly vanished. Kamaitachi's body was sent flying out as he reverted back to his human form and the gem stone erupted out of his back and into the air.

"How come you didn't explode?" I asked as the battlefield died down. Kamaitachi's body was all cut and burnt up as he tried to get up but collapsed back down. The amount of mana I poured into that attack should've caused a huge explosion but once my tornado left your still alive?" I said as I caught the gem stone in the air and slowly began walking towards him.

"Ha I guess the gemstone protected me. But don't worry Wizard I'll be back to finish things up." He said laughing evilly. I began to walk over to end his life but then I heard something moving in the grass behind him and I saw a snake bite his legs which began to turn into stone. "MEDUSA?! Release your spell you bitch! I can still kill him! We can take him down together!" He said as the snake lady Phantom walked out of the cornfields behind him.

She was holding my copied sword in her hand, "I'm sorry but when you put two possibly good Phantoms to death to save your backstabbing hide then there is no point in letting you live." She said chuckling. Kamaitachi looked directly at her as he opened his mouth to say something and she took the blade and stabbed it right in his mouth and then we watched as purple cracks formed around and a small dust explosion happened with no trace of Kamaitachi to be seen.

Medusa looked at me, "You're getting stronger Wizard. You will soon pose a real threat to us but you still might have some use to us. I've come to kill Kamaitachi and take back that gemstone you hold. My master wants it and he's willing to reward me pleasurably if I were to return with it. So why don't you hand it over so I can have a good night? I'm not here to fight so don't worry."

I kept the stone close to me and took a defensive stance, "This stone is mine. Why would you kill someone of your own kind?" I asked her.

"Like I said he was a traitor. He was such a strong one too. Not a lot of Phantoms with such promise and strength are easy to find even if we did infuse him with it. Why don't you keep your stone, I'll just tell Wiseman that it got destroyed or something." She said as she slipped into the cornfield. I reverted back to my human form and got everyone situated into DJ's car, the sisters in Robin's car so she could take them to the hospital because Maria was still knocked out, and I gave Karina a ride on my bike back home.


	17. Underworld

I dropped Karina off at DJ's and then I told her that I needed to go do something. "Come home safe bro. When will you be home?" She asked. I looked down the street thinking about Amber and then I looked back at her.

"Possibly tomorrow. I'm going to go see Amber to ask her a few things. If anything happens call me. I'll check up on Maria and Manuela in the morning." I told her as I sped off down the street. My chest was still hurting from the fight, "I wonder who that person was that healed me. Was it another Rider? Whatever they did it repaired my body but I'm still sore." My mind was all over the place as I was driving that I didn't see a semi-truck turning in my direction. I quickly pulled my bike sideways as the driver blared his horn at me. "I need to stay focused on the road. I'll think about everything when I get to Amber's." I said as I continued on riding down the road.

I pulled up to Amber's as I took my helmet off and left it dangling on the handlebars. I walked up to her house and knocked on the door. I waited a bit but th0ere was no response, "I wonder where she is at? Maybe I should call her?" I thought as I whipped out my phone and looked for her number. While looking at my phone I saw an envelope on the ground with my name written on it. I picked it up and opened it to see a key inside. I used the key to open the door and walked inside as I looked around to see if Amber was home. I noticed another note in the kitchen as I took my shoes off. The note said, "The donuts are yours. I'll be back home soon. –Amber 3" I put down the note as I saw on top of the fridge a bag of donuts from Grounds for Thought. I reached for the bag and saw two Plain Sugar Donuts inside. "Aw hell yea!" I said as I began eating. I went to the beige colored couch in her living room as I sat down with a plate eating the donuts she had bought for me. I started to feel extremely tired and after eating half of my donut my body began to feel heavy and I fell backwards and fell asleep.

While I was asleep I started to have a different nightmare. In my nightmare I saw my friends all at DJ's house. We were celebrating something and I was standing in the living room. I had a guitar in my hand as was trying to play it. Shawn came running up behind me and tackled me from behind as Karina was laughing at us wrestling on the ground. DJ was trying to show off his dance skills to Robin at Dance Dance Revolution, and Amber was talking to Manuela and Maria in the corner of the room. I remembered that I needed to get something from my room so I pinned Shawn on the ground and put him in a choke hold until he tapped out. I got up off the ground and helped my friend off the floor. I began jogging to my room to grab something and when I returned I saw Karina, Robin, Shawn, and Manuela's bodies hanging in random positions with blood splattered all over the living room. "GUYS!" I said as I ran to check on them. When I did I heard people screaming outside and when I went to investigate I saw DJ despairing and Maria's throat getting slit by Amber. "Try and save your friend's now Wizard." Amber said laughing evilly. I went to activate my belt only to find that I had no rings.

"Where are my rings?!" I thought as I ran back inside to find the Wizard Chest nowhere in sight. I ran back out to confront Amber but when I did I saw her body cut in half and the culprit had my swordgun. When I looked up at him I saw my transformed self standing over Amber's body and then I saw wings shoot out from DJ's back as a Phantom was born from his remains. I remember my heart beating in pain as I charged at my dark transformed self and threw a fist at it.

The enemy grabbed my fist and closed his fingers into my skin as I began kneeling down on the ground, "You can't protect anyone if you can't even protect yourself." The mage said. I had a better look at his belt. It was the same as mine but instead of the gold outline of the black hand, it was deep red. I looked back up at the mage who had a deep purple and black theme going on.

"Who are you?" I asked the mage. I tried to throw another punch directly to his belt but he grabbed that too with his free hand and began running his hand into my skin. I was starting to not feel my fingers and was brought to the ground by this impostor. He slammed me onto the ground and then rolled me over as he put the swordgun in gun mode and held it right in my face.

"I am the darkest version of yourself that lies deep inside your heart. I am the dark despair that lurks in your soul, I am Dark Wizard. I will be the being that will kill everyone around you and when I have brought you to your knees in solitude, then I will kill you. You and I will have our fight Travis, and I will come out the victor." He said in a voice that sounded a lot like mine. He pulled the trigger and when he did I awoke from my dream screaming and breaking out in a cold sweat. I was having a panic attack and then I felt someone's warm hand wrap around my face and the next thing I felt was someone's chest I was laying up against.

"Travis, shhh. Shhh. It's okay, you're okay, it was just a nightmare." I heard Amber say with a soothing tone. I was fidgeting violently but her lying next to me helped me calm down. She brought her head over mine, "Same nightmare babe?" She asked.

"No, a completely different one. All of my friends were killed and or despaired, I saw you kill one of the girls I saved earlier today, and then I saw an evil version of my transformed self, called itself Dark Wizard. He overpowered me and I couldn't use any of my powers." I said and then began hyperventilating. Amber brought up a glass of water that was on the table and had me drink it. I started to calm down after drinking some of the water, "Thank you. What time is it?" I said as I looked at the clock on the wall that said it was two in the morning.

"I just came home about a couple hours ago to see your bike parked outside and passed out on my couch. So I thought maybe you could use a cuddle buddy. You looked like you went through a lot today." She said comforting me. I reached out for her face and lifted mine too kiss her on the lips.

"Yea I killed off another Phantom but I almost died doing so. My chest is still sore from the fight. When I came here I was kind of tired and passed out on the couch. Oh thanks for the donuts how did you know I like Plain Sugar Donuts?" I asked her. She just had a smile on her face.

"A girlfriend should know what her boyfriend likes." She said with a chuckle. She had a blanket wrapped around us and I watched her yawn. "Boy I'm tired. I had a long day." She said as she positioned herself so we could cuddle against each other more comfortably. I began to fall asleep next to her as the only sound in the room was her breathing, and the ticking of the clock on the wall. Right before I fell asleep something about my dream where Amber killed Maria began to make me worry.

"Why would I dream of Amber killing someone? Something tells me that this nightmare wasn't all a nightmare." I decided to think some more on it tomorrow as I was still extremely tired and fell asleep on the couch with Amber. I know that I didn't have any more nightmares that night probably because I wasn't alone as I normally am when I'm asleep. I know some hours had passed as I heard my phone vibrate in my pocket. The sound and the vibration woke me from my sleep as I answered the phone, "Yea." I said. On the other end of the phone was Karina freaking out.

"TRAVIS WE NEED YOU AT THE HOSPITAL! MARIA JUST FLATLINED AND MANUELA HAS BEEN NOTIFIED AND SHE'S ON HER WAY!" She said yelling in the phone. I quickly got up and ran to put my shoes on. Amber was still asleep after all of that commotion. I wrote out a letter saying I was going to the hospital and then bolted out the door and drove to the Wood County Hospital.

"I need to make it there before Manuela does otherwise she'll despair right on the spot and give birth to a Phantom." I said speeding down the road. I tried to avoid streets that cops are more likely to patrol as I made my way to the back entrance of the hospital. I ran up to the information desk, "I need inside there now!" I demanded the nurse at the desk. She wasn't allowing me in and I pulled out my Sleep Ring, "I'm sorry but I'm not taking a no for an answer." I said as I ran around the table and grabbed the frightened lady's hand and slid the ring on her finger. I scanned it over my belt.

 **"** **Sleep, please."**

The belt said as my power quickly put her to sleep and then I grabbed her ID badge as I scanned it to gain access to the rooms. I began going up and down the halls looking for the room Maria would be in but was having no luck whatsoever. "Shit! What room is she in?!" I went down another hallway and found nothing. I then heard a scream echoing down the hall and I quickly ran to it. I got up to a corner and took a right to see Manuela backing away from the entrance and then fall to her knees.

"MARIA!" She screamed as her body became frozen and giant purple cracks began to form. Karina ran up to her trying to calm her down but Manuela just kept repeating the same words over and over, "Please don't leave me alone…Please don't leave me alone…Please don't leave me alone…." I quickly ran up to Karina and had her move away. I took out an Engage Ring from my pocket inside my jacket and lifted Manuela's finger.

"Manuela I need you to be strong for me okay? I need you to hold on everything is going to be okay but if you give into your despair right now you will die! I'm not going to let you die on me, not now not ever!" I said to her. Manuela began to raise her head up as tears were streaming down her face.

"That's my sister and she's dead now. I can't live without her, I'm the last of my family now and I just can't do this. I can't keep on living without my sister! She's my only family now in this country and I'm not ready for this. Please just leave me to die, please!" She said begging. I slid the ring on her finger as the cracks started to rapidly increase.

"I know for a fact that your sister will want you to live on no matter what happens to her. You need to live and be strong for her and for yourself. Death is not the answer here and I'll be damned to lose someone amazing like you!" I said as I scanned the ring over my belt.

 **"** **Engage, please."**

The belt said as a red circle appeared over Manuela's body. I quickly dove head first into the circle as my body began to transform into my Flame Style form. Once I appeared in her Underworld I looked around to see a small campfire in some dark woods. I walked up to the campfire to see Manuela and Maria as kids with their parents.

"No matter what lil sis, I will always be there for you if you need me. I will be a better sister for you." Maria said holding her pinky up. Manuela had this smile on her face as she grabbed her pinky with her own.

"It's a promise." Manuela said. I watched as their pinky's connected a giant purple crack formed and a giant woman with dark purple hair and a black serpentine body from beneath her waist to her tail broke free and began rampaging all over the place causing cracks to form at a ridiculous rate. I quickly grabbed my bike using my Connect Ring, and then pulled out my ring to summon Dragon.

 **"** **Dragorise, please."**

My belt said as I shot out a red circle. My dragon flew out and rammed right into the Lamia Phantom. The snake woman grabbed Dragon's wings and slammed him into the ground and once he collided into the ground, cracks began to appear in random areas. I watched as the Lamia wrapped her lower body around Dragon and began squeezing him tightly.

"DRAGON!" I screamed as I took off my Dragorise ring and scanned Big. I shot out the circle close to Lamia and drove all the way to it. When I got close enough I raised my sword sideways and sliced into the spell circle making my sword the size of the giant monster's body and leaving just a deep enough cut on her body to have Dragon break free. Dragon soared up into the air and I looked around to figure out what to do, "Dragon can't get close to this Phantom otherwise she will pin him to the ground and suffocate him. I need to find a way around this problem, because any minute now Manuela will give birth to this Phantom." I then remembered that if my enemy can't see then they should be able to not stop incoming attacks. I called out to Dragon as I rode my bike onto his bike and it began to fold out on his wings.

"How do you expect us to fight something that will stop my attack before I hit it?" Dragon asked concerned. I slipped on my Light Ring and flipped the levers on my belt.

"You just leave that to me." I said.

 **"** **Light, please."**

I shot out a ball of light towards Lamia who immediately became blinded and then I stood on Dragon's back with my Kick Strike Ring.

"Hey Dragon since we haven't done an Underworld fight in ages, let's do a classic finisher." I said to him. Dragon agreed as he flew up higher into the air. I flipped the levers and scanned the ring.

 **"** **Very Nice! Kick Strike! The Best!"**

I watched Dragon made himself fold into a piller thing with his head the pointed end and I raised my foot back and kicked into Dragon's back as we came flying through the air. Once we hit Lamia she had her hands holding onto Dragon's sides stopping us from fully going through her.

"I have a way to fix this." I said as I pulled out another ring. I pulled back on the thumb of my sword now in gun mode and scanned my Flame Style Ring.

 **"** **Flame Shooting Strike! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

"Finale." I said as I pulled on the trigger after allowing a giant ball of fire form at the barrel of my gun. The ball of fire went straight into the Lamia's face as she let go to try and wipe away the fire allowing us to rip a hole right through her chest and explode her into bits. When I landed on the ground I was standing right next to Manuela who had a ring on her finger. The ring had a weird carving of my Wizard form and I was dancing? I slid the ring off and put it on my belt holder as Dragon vanished and I left Underworld to see Manuela passed out on the floor. Doctors were running up to us as they got her on a bed and took her right next door. While she was getting treated I ran into Maria's room as everyone was there. Karina had tears coming down her face, Shawn was sitting in the corner with his hands over his face, Robin had a hand over her mouth, and DJ had this sad expression on her face.

The doctor walked over to me, "Her body is too badly injured like she was hit pretty hard. Maria's body isn't able to handle this type of torture that she seemed to have received. She has bruises all over her chest area and upper thighs, it almost look like she was just beaten to an inch of her life. The person who attacked her kept her visible areas of skin unharmed for some odd reason. We didn't know what was going on until just a second ago when one of your friends found a bruise on her shoulder." The doctor told me. He also questioned what just happened and Robin and I took him to the side giving him all of the details as well to the other doctors. They all promised to keep my secret quiet from anyone who doesn't know.

I walked back into the room as I stood next to Maria's body. "I freed your sister from becoming the thing that made you like this. But that won't stop her from losing you. I will do what I can to keep her protected but I can't promise you what will happen to her from here on out. I'm sorry for not getting to you guys sooner." I said as a tear ran down my face. I grasped Maria's hand as I knew that somehow I might have to break this to Manuela. I walked out of the room as I saw Amber running down the halls. She seemed to be looking for me and when she did she ran right into me hugging me.

"I saw your note and got worried. Are you okay? What happened?" She said with a huge concern in her voice. I walked her to the room where Manuela was and told her what had just happened. While talking to her I showed her Maria's body in the room next to hers. Amber put her hands above her mouth and then turned around to walk away, "I can't deal with this right now." She said as she began to walk off down the hall.

I knew something was wrong and I ran off to stop her and find out what. I caught up to her and grabbed her hand, "Hey hey hey! What's wrong? Tell me." I said to her. She didn't turn to look at me as I could hear her crying. I slowly reeled her back in and began to hold her. "It's okay. Tell me what is going on? I can't help you if I don't know." I said comforting her as I was dealing with the pain of losing someone I was supposed to protect. I almost felt like breaking down. Amber was able to finally talk to me.

"A few years ago a Phantom attacked me and my family. It was woman with a head full of snakes that moved. Prior to this happening, my family and I were having a huge fight and I got fed up and ran away. I was gone for about a month and when I came back we had another huge fight. That same night we had a huge fight the Phantom came saying something about me being a Gate. My family begged for their lives but she was ruthless and killed them in some horrible ways. She had their bodies hanging from the holes in the ceilings and when the snake haired woman was looking for me all over the house I had already begun running down the street. I stay out on the outskirts of the town in an abandoned barn fending for myself up until a family took me in. It was about a month before the cave exploration when I met you did the same snake haired woman who called herself Medusa kill that family too trying to destroy my hope so I could despair like her. Apparently I'm strong willed and it takes a lot to break me down, but I had to keep moving because I started to know when Phantoms were coming after me." She said.

She didn't want to watch another family member die because it triggers her to remember the events of what had happened to her family. I rubbed my hand on her back as I walked her out the door and got her a bottle of water from the vending machines.

All of us stayed at the hospital that night. Amber stayed with my friends in Maria's room, just in case Maria was able to pull through which never happened. I stayed in Manuela's room with me asleep at her bedside. It wasn't until morning did I wake up to someone touching my head. It was Manuela who was just waking up as well. She was really depressed, "Hey do you need anything?" I asked her. Manuela knew that Maria was dead and because of that she became more of a mute than ever. She shook her head and pointed at the door, "Do you want some time to yourself?" I asked her. She slowly nodded her head up and down as tears began to fill her eyes. I got up and slowly walked up to leave but not before walking over to the dry erase board and writing down my phone number, "Here's my number. If you need me for anything call or text…Please." I said as I walked out. I walked over to the next room to see my friends gone and it was almost noon. The room was also completely empty. My heart began to feel heavy and my doubts started clouding my head.

"I should've been better at watching her. If I had just…Just…" I was so upset with myself as I punched the wall. I quickly stormed out of the hospital and got on my bike as I sped off out to Marshall Lee's dojo. Once there I walked inside and saw Marshall meditating in the middle of the room.

"Casey isn't here if you are looking for him. Otherwise there is no training for you today." He said still in his meditating position. He could tell I was troubled and lifted his arm to his side, "Meditate with me Travis." He suggested. I sat cross legged next to him and closed my eyes. I folded my left hand into a fist and used my right hand to cover my left. "Now breathe in through the nose and exhale out the mouth." He said as I listened to him inhale and exhale. While following his example, my mind started to clear a bit and my emotions began to decrease to normal a bit. I started to feel calm while dealing with this entire messed up day. My teacher had me open my eyes and while maintain that position he asked me a question, "You seem like you have a lot going on than normal. Would you like to talk about it? I may be your teacher but that doesn't mean I can't be your friend."

His words hit me hard and I began telling him my fight with Kamaitachi all the way up to earlier this morning when Maria died on the hospital bed. "I just seem to be slipping. I'm supposed to protect people but I'm now reaching a point where my enemies are getting more intelligent, stronger, and more cunning. Everything seems to be happening at once and I just can't do anything. I have more power than before, but with all of this power I couldn't protect one innocent girl." I was doing my best to not break down and keep my cool but it was really hard. My teacher reached out and grabbed my shoulder.

"You are not the only one who came to me about something like this. Casey is going through a hard time right now from where he is from. If you haven't noticed in your sparring match against him he has powers too. He told me at multiple points in his life lost the people he cared about and even had to get his own two hands dirty when it came to protecting people he cared and loved. He learned after a long period of failing that he may have power, but that doesn't mean he can protect everyone with it. Sometimes you have to sacrifice something in order to gain something bigger. Casey has learned that lesson and it has been ingrained into his very being. But it seems like you still need to learn that. There is not one person in this entire world that can protect everyone 100% Travis. It's not Casey, and it's not you." I knew that my teacher was the type to be straight to the point. I had a lot to think about and I asked him if I could be excused. He bowed to me in the spot he was in and I bowed back.

I walked towards the front door and noticed that the signs that mentioned his hours that the dojo was open were missing. "I wonder if he's closing down the dojo. That would be sad, I may have not been here a lot but it has gotten me to be a better fighter and I've learned a lot." I looked back at Marshall Lee who was still meditating in the middle of the room and then walked out the doors as I thought about the words he had shared with me. I decided that I still wanted time to myself so I rode out into the country for a while and kept riding until I felt like going home. I knew today was going to be a long day, "I really hope this feeling doesn't stick the rest of this week. It's Friday morning and my birthday is in three days." I thought as I kept riding around in the countryside.

(Phoenix's Viewpoint)

Medusa and I were summoned to Master Wiseman's cave for a special meeting. Once there we noticed that Wiseman was nowhere to be seen. "Ha I wonder where the hell he's at. It's early in the fricking morning and I like to have my beauty sleep!" I said sternly.

"Beauty sleep? Oh please every time you sleep you keep looking uglier. Maybe the next time you die you can do something about that horrendous face of yours." She said laughing. I quickly grabbed her throat and slammed her up against the wall. I lifted her up in the air, "Oh did I hit a nerve? How about you go back to your human form, you look sooo much cuter than your Phantom form." She was really testing my patience but I didn't see a snake slithering under her arm and it whipped its body across my face sending me to step back a few feet and dropping Medusa.

"You think that just because you're Wiseman's right hand that you can look down on me? Let's keep in mind that if you were to die, you wouldn't revive. I'm the strongest Phantom here because I can not only revive but get stronger so it's harder to kill me again. All you have is your seductive little mind games and those snakes. Which I'm sure eats up a lot of your mana so I wonder if you're really as strong to be a Phantom General." I said in a cocky tone. She backed off on that one as she snarled at me. "Another thing as well, why are you always in your Phantom form? I've only seen you in human form a couple times, what do you have to hide being in this form?" I kept barraging her with question but I heard someone coming up behind me.

"Get your hands off of her." Wiseman said as he walked into the cave. I dropped my hold I had on Medusa as I glared at Wiseman. He walked over to his bed and walked through the sheets that surrounded his bed and picked up one of his magical stones. He then walked back out holding a purple magical stone that was brighter than the yellow one that Kamaitachi had. "Soon Wizard will be no longer. With this stone I will make him create Phantoms instead of killing them. Over the last couple of days I've been pouring a lot of mana into this stone in order to make the next host a lot stronger than the one I gave to Kamaitachi. I'm planning on shoving this stone into Wizard but first we need him to get a bit stronger and I'm well aware on how you lost the yellow magical stone Medusa." Medusa bowed down as a sign to apologize for her misdoing.

"So she failed to bring back one of your precious stones. I feel like that should demote her from a general position. Like come on, Gremlin who is never here for these meetings actually put Wizard's friends in mortal danger and if she had done something about it then, the two she had hostage would not have been alive by the time he showed up. I have yet to see Medusa actually put any of Wizard's friends in danger nor have I seen her actually fight him. I fought him and even though I got defeated at least I put some DAMN effort into taking down our enemy!" I said angrily at Wiseman. Wiseman cocked his head to the side and I felt something bite into my legs and shoulders. The areas where I got bit began to turn to stone and I couldn't feel my arms or legs. Medusa then walked over to me and placed her hands under my chin.

"Let me tell you something honey. I'm doing my part and I'm doing it good. Also I am much stronger than you because let's think about what happens if I turn your entire body into stone? You die. You also can't regenerate or revive because your body is still encased in stone. So all you will end up doing is reviving and then quickly dying while still being encased in stone. So I suggest you keep your little mouth shut and start thinking with your brain instead of your fists and what your pathetic little emotions tell you. Your power mostly comes from how you want to act like a brute, my power is more used for being sneaky and cunning. I actually use my brains to everything that goes on around me; I'm not as hot headed as you who can't think worth shit to save his life." She said to me. I tried to break free from the stone but had no luck. Medusa always pissed me off with how cool she thinks she is and the fact that I keep losing every battle with her. Wiseman stopped our squabble and had us face him.

"Medusa I think it's time I gave you a weapon. This staff will allow you to cast illusions on people with mana. As long as the gemstone that I infused with mana stays in place and doesn't break you'll have control. This staff will also allow you to use your own mana as a weapon so I want you to take good care of it." He said to her. Wiseman handed her the staff and then a photo of what looked like the old dojo where I lost to Wizard. "Try your new powers at that dojo. I think it's time we created another Phantom. Phoenix you will guard Medusa in case Wizard shows up and only deal with him until the instructor there has despaired." He had us disperse from the cave as we began our mission to make the man known as Marshall Lee despair.

"I hope you show up Wizard. Because I have a score to settle with you. If I kill you then Wiseman will actually give me some respect as well as Medusa." I thought as we walked towards the dojo.

(Travis's Viewpoint)

Somewhere around the time I was going to head home I ended up sitting up in a tree out in the countryside. "It really feels nice to just sit and relax out here in the country." I thought looking up at the morning sky. I was still somewhat troubled by Maria's death and was worried about how Manuela is going to be able to deal with it all. I opened up my phone and began flipping through the different apps I had, "I need to make sure she is okay. I already had one death in the past twenty four hours I don't think I can handle another one." I said as I lept down from the branch and got on my bike. Before I put my bike helmet on my head I heard my phone ringing and I picked up to hear DJ with his voice sounding like he was about to cry.

"Travis…I need you to hurry and get to Marshall, his dojo is on fire." He said as his voice started sounding heavy. I quickly hung up the phone and started my bike as I took the back roads to get to the dojo quicker.

I summoned out my belt and scanned one of my transformation rings, "Transform." I said as I passed a red circle revealing my Flame form. I was breaking the speed limit trying to get to Marshall and when I came up to the rear of the flaming building, I saw Marshall Lee get thrown out the window as he quickly rolled his side. He looked up to see his home being burned to the ground. He reached out his hand and I got off my bike as I began to run up to him. I had an Engage Ring ready and when I finally got to him I was shoulder rushed by Phoenix. I rolled sideways on the ground and Phoenix summoned his giant sword and held it as my throat.

"I wouldn't move if I was you Wizard. This is one Gate you can't save." He said laughing. I looked to the side to see Marshall form purple cracks all over his body and then I looked back at Phoenix's sword. I shoved the sword away from as I got off the ground and throat punched Phoenix. He quickly fell to the ground with his hands around his neck and then I summoned out my sword as I slashed at his back and then kicked him on the ground. I ran back up to Marshall who wasn't saying anything but the tears on his face said it all.

"Sensei I need you to hold on! I'm going to save you but I need you to hold on!" I said as I slid an Engage Ring on his finger. But before I had a chance to scan my belt I had something wrap around my neck and began pulling me backwards. I fell on my back with what looked to be like snakes keeping me bound on the ground. I tried to fight break free but the snakes had me wrapped and fighting back meant cutting off my oxygen. I was then lifted into the air and my body turned around to see Medusa walking towards me.

"Hello Wizard. I'm so glad you could make it to this special event. For the first time you will witness someone despair right in front of your very eyes." She said as she turned my body back around and Marshall's cracks were almost covering his body. I reached one arm to him and called out his name but that was all I could say. Medusa raised me up a couple more feet and now I felt like I was going to pass out as she quickly drained my mana. Suddenly I heard a roar erupt from Marshall and my body was dropped onto the ground and I reverted back to my human self. I was having a hard time moving having my mana drained. I looked up at Marshall with my hand still outstretched.

"Don't give in…Don't give up!" I said to him and then a purple crack went across his face. He then threw his body back and then forward as his human form shattered giving rise to a Phantom. I tried to stand up but I ended up falling down. Medusa and Phoenix began walking towards the new Phantom.

"Wow you look amazing Gargoyle!" Phoenix said excited. I looked up to see with light grey stone arms and legs, blue body with wings stretched out, a long neck with four gold horns sticking straight out behind his head, and two tinted orange horns sticking out and what appears to be wrapped around his chest area. He had a smaller face with a few sharp teeth than the other's I fought. He also had a thin tail that was about as long as his arms. I knew that all of this was just too much for me too bear.

"I protected Manuela from becoming a Phantom, but at the loss of her sister. Now I've lost Marshall and what's worse is I'll have to kill his Phantom." I thought as I was still trying to move. Gargoyle started walking towards me as he reverted to his human self. He bent down and grabbed my hair as he pulled it up.

"Killing you is going to be easy if you can't fight. I just wonder how I'm going to splash your blood all over the place. Maybe I could pierce my hand right through you and to get rid of any evidence that you were here, throw your body into the flaming building. Tell me Travis, how do you want to die?" Gargoyle asked me. I was able to get some of my energy back but it was just enough to smack his arm away. Medusa walked up to Gargoyle and her voice was kind of crackly.

"Wiseman want's him alive. So we aren't killing him today. We need to return to Wiseman with you Gargoyle. Oh Wizard, try not despairing over all of this, we need you alive." She said to me as she walked Gargoyle back to Phoenix. Then I watched as they jumped in a random direction far away from me. I heard sirens in the distance and I began to stand up and slowly walk to my bike. When I did I put on my helmet and drove back to DJs. Because right now I was in desperate need of my friends.

"Two deaths in one day. I don't know what is going on anymore." I said outloud as I drove down the street and pass the emergency vehicles. I stopped at the intersection as I looked back at the burning building, "What do I do now?" I said as a tear ran down my face. "I couldn't even save my one friend…" I took the back roads to DJ's as I once again disobeyed the speed limits and then when I got home and walked through the door, I ended up falling down and crying in front of everyone, including DJ who knew just by my entrance that a close friend of his is now dead and began crying too.


	18. The Final Dragon Style

Hey guys so sorry it's taken me a long time to upload this chapter! I've been having a stressful couple of weeks but everything seems to be going a bit smoothly now. CasualScrubLord has helped out alot with getting me through the stress so you should go read his stuff they are pretty good! But anyways here is the next chapter only two more to go and then it's the end of Book 1! Then I'll be taking a break to edit and fix all of my chapters which CasualScrubLord is helping me do so that this book will be alot easier to read. He's given me some ideas to make reading a bit easier since the last chapter so I put his ideas to use in this one. Tell me what you guys think and thanks for sticking with me on this journey!

* * *

The rest of the Friday morning was just complete silence. Nobody talked as we all just sat in the living room, as DJ sat in his office in the corner of the room. Shawn was quiet for once, Amber had come by during the confusion and she sat next to me rubbing my back. Karina was with Robin just staring at the floor. "How did this happen? Maria dies but I saved her sister, and then in less than 12 hours later does Marshall becomes a Phantom and now I have to fight him." I had a lot of running thoughts in my head and I just wanted to scream but I didn't because I felt like it wouldn't accomplish anything. I finally stood up and made up my mind.

"Babe where are you going?" Amber asked as I went and grabbed my jacket. I didn't even respond as all my thoughts were on was finding Gargoyle. I opened the door and slammed it as I walked over to my bike and got on. I put my helmet on as Amber came running out of the house and grabbed my arm, "Please tell me where you are going?! I don't know what's going on and I need you to tell me please! You've already been through much you don't need to push yourself anymore!" She said with tears running down her face.

I put my hand over my shades on my helmet, "I'm a wizard remember? I fight and kill Phantoms so I need to go out and do that before anyone else gets hurt." I said as I pushed the shades down and revved up my bike and drove away. Looking back I saw Amber fell to her knees as the rest of my friends ran to pick her up, and Karina with her hand outstretched towards me. I looked back as I summoned out my Plamonsters and commanded them to find Phantoms, especially for one that looks like a colorful gargoyle. The three dispersed as I zoomed to the outskirts of the city. I went back to the dojo and scoured that place but found nothing. I went out to the cornfield near the expressway but found nothing. Then Garuda came back and I was sent all the way out to Wintergarden Park that was more like a forest reserve than a park. I was walking around and when I did I found in a giant field of the park surrounded by tall grass, Gargoyle. He was in human form with his back turned me.

"Connect, please." My belt said as I pulled my sword from the spell circle. Gargoyle then turned around.

"Well isn't this a surprise. Based on what Medusa and Phoenix told me, I didn't think you would sought me out so quickly. I actually thought that you would avoid me since you can't risk killing a friend even if he is a Phantom. Gotta say your either impressive at adapting, or your just stupid." Gargoyle said to me. I held my blade up at him with nothing but a mixture of anger and sadness battling inside of me.

"I'm not going to lose anyone else. I lost you which tore DJ to pieces, and I lost Maria which tore me and her sister to pieces. I don't like the situation I'm in having to fight you but God help me I'm going to get through this as quick as I can. Then I'm walking away without a second thought. Marshall will rest in peace, but not until I destroy you." I said as my hand started to shake. Gargoyle started laughing.

"You know digging into my host's memories I have a variety of ways to make sure I can take those words and shove it so far back down your throat. I can tell just how you are right now I can easily beat you and I don't have to even transform. But feel free to transform if you want to, I wouldn't mind fighting with a handicap hahahaha." I didn't even grab my rings as I began rushing towards him. Gargoyle didn't transform but I raised my sword as I began to slash at his side and he grabbed it with his hand. He took the cut as blood started running down my sword and when I was going to run my blade through his hand he pulled on my blade and decked me straight in the face. I stumbled backwards holding my face and when I looked up I saw him jumped sideways and twist his hips to kick me in the chest which made me fall on my back.

"Why don't you transform? You know that without your powers you can't kill Phantoms. Was the whole speech you just gave me a lie? Listen hero if you can't fight me then what is going to happen if your future friends despair and turn into Phantoms?" Gargoyle said lecturing me. I quickly got up off the ground. I was thinking of what he said and it's taking everything from me to just land blows on this guy while pushing my feelings aside. "You bore me Travis. You don't have what it takes to kill me, but I have everything I need to kill you." Gargoyle ran towards me and gave me a feint attack and I took the bait. He had come to punch me in the face and I grabbed his hand to stop the attack. He then pulled me towards him and kicked me in my hip which made me let go of his hand and then while standing where he was at, took his free hand and slammed his palm up hitting my jaw and snapping my head up. He then raised his fist and hit me right at my diaphragm causing me to fall onto the ground grabbing my stomach. I then got kicked across the face from him causing me to fall on my side.

I looked at my blade lying next to me, "Just one stab and everything will be over. But my hand doesn't want to move towards it." I thought while being upset that I couldn't do my job. Gargoyle raised his foot and stomped on my chest and then kneeled down as he punched my face back onto the ground.

"Your pathetic. So easy to fight other Phantoms but not me because I was once somebody you considered a friend, a mentor that helped you fight better. Why don't you take this as a fight to see who is better? Is it the master? Or the student? But instead you fight without a true reason and can't help to understand the fact that you will have to kill me. I don't even have to be in my Phantom form to fight you. As long as I stay in this wretched human form I have the advantage." Gargoyle said as he lectured me. He removed his foot and then grabbed my upper leg and my shirt as he chucked me clear across the field until I hit my back on a tree. I fell face first onto the ground and I heard a thung sound as I looked up to see my sword stuck in the tree. Gargoyle started walking towards me and in just a few seconds he was about three feet away from me. He grabbed my sword and placed it at my face. I felt terrified and scooted until my back was up against the tree.

"Is this how I'm going to die?" I thought scared for my life.

Gargoyle dropped my sword onto the ground, "At 6pm tonight, you will meet me back here for our real fight to the death. If you don't show up then I will kill everyone in this vicinity. It's okay because no one in this vicinity is a Gate and humans are nothing more than trash that are in the way." He said to me with assurance in his eyes. Gargoyle turned and I had thought that maybe he would walk away but instead he roundhouse kicked my face knocking me unconscious.

I think a few hours had gone by and I felt something touch my face that made me snap my eyes open. I looked around to see that someone had their arms wrapped around me and was brushing my face off the blood that was there. "Damn you took a beating, took us forever to find you." Amber said. I looked to see Shawn some feet away to keep an eye out for us in case any Phantoms showed up.

"Is it just you and Shawn?" I asked her.

"DJ and Robin are out getting food for all of us as well as a first aid kit for them wounds. Mind telling me what happened?" She asked. I stood up and picked up my sword on the ground. I used my Connect Ring as I put it back into my room at DJ's. I had began rubbing my hands through my hair as I was frustrated with myself on not being able to beat Gargoyle. I turned around and punched the tree out of anger.

"I can't kill Gargoyle. Just seeing him as Marshall Lee makes it hard for me. It makes me feel like I'm killing him instead of the Phantom and I don't want that. How do I fight somebody that I once was friends with? I can't make that that out in my head. I had thought when showing up that if he would go into his Phantom form this would be a lot easier. But he read me very clearly and stayed in human form during the entire time he was whooping my ass! Now I have until 6pm tonight to fight him otherwise he's going to kill everyone around here. How do I get myself together to do that? I'm going to lose everyone just like I lost him and Maria. I just…I just can't…AHHHHHHHHHH!" I couldn't hold on anymore as I kept punching the tree until my knuckles hurt. I saw Shawn run up to me.

"Hey Travis are you okay? What's wrong?" Shawn asked. I quickly turned around and ran to my bike as I started the engine and drove off needing some time alone to figure out what I was going to do.

I drove down the road and ended up heading over to the city park. The city park had these stone walls surrounding most of the park. The walls were big, an adult could just sit on them easily. I had parked my bike across the street and was on the other side of the wall facing the golf course area of the park. I had my back up against the wall and was sitting cross legged as my face began to produce tears, "What the hell do I do? I just…" I was about to break apart at the situation I was put in. I was wondering where I went wrong and what I could've done better but the thought of losing two people in twenty four hours as well as a third person was a lot for me to bear.

"You know when your parent's died you would always come to this area to try and hide from the world. You only do this when you are extremely stressed out." I heard a familiar voice say to me from above the wall. A bag of donuts was dropped at my side with the Grounds For Thought logo on it. "Why don't you sit up here on this wall with me and talk about it." Rachel said to me. Ever since my parent's died, Rachel from the coffee bookstore had watched out for me. She saw me like her son and in the few years that we've known each other, it almost felt like she was my mother. She was the only person I kept close for some type of comfort and normalcy, as well as support. She would always get groceries for me or give me free donuts at her job. I told Rachel okay and got up off the ground.

I sat next to her as I looked inside the bag of donuts and pulled out a white glazed donut with a hole inside it. The words CHEER UP! Were written in frosting with bright colored sprinkles, "I'm taking it that this is the Cheer Up Donut?" I asked her with a smile. Rachel laughed as she agreed with me. I ended up eating the donut, "It's so good. Oh hey you were able to get apple glazed chunks in here. That's pretty cool!" I said to her as I kept eating the donut. Rachel put her arms around my shoulder and pulled me towards her.

"Look I know you're going through a lot and you don't have to tell me either. But I want you to know that you're not alone and everything will be okay." She said. I started to shed a tear as I told her what I was experiencing.

"I've watched two people die in front of me. At both times I could have saved their lives but I just couldn't. There is this girl named Manuela and she had a sister named Maria. I got put into a place where I could save one but I couldn't save the other. Then I was learning how to fight with a guy named Marshall Lee and I had an opportune moment to save him but when I did he was killed right in front of me and I was completely helpless. The people who killed Marshall were right there and they could've killed me but instead let me go free. Now I'm battling in my head with the doubt and regret and I just can't get over it." After telling Rachel all of that I inhaled and exhaled frustrated with myself.

Rachel just sat there for a few minutes and then began speaking, "You know Travis. Ever since a few months ago you have changed. You went from this introverted, lonely kid and over time have begun to evolve into a better person. You found friends and found DJ who housed you because he sees you like his son. Something about you has changed and you are becoming a better person. I hear the stories of how you are helping people around the town trying to be a hope when they have lost everything. I read about you in the paper a few weeks back saving that family in their burning home. The Travis I know would never have done that. You may be helping people and saving people but you need to know that there is not one soul out there that can save everyone. There are times when you have to learn how to lose even when you're winning. You're ability to want to save people is amazing and we need more people like that, but you can't let one mistake, one problem, shatter your entire world. Life is a learning process, and as human beings we learn by the mistakes we make because there is not one perfect person out in the world. To be honest, the best people out in the world are not the ones who try their hardest, but are the ones who make mistakes and learn from them. What mistakes have you made that you can learn from after all of this and what can you do different the next time you are encountered with this same problem?" Rachel said to me.

Rachel's words hit me really hard as I got up, "I think I understand. Thanks for the donuts Rachel." I said looking at her with a smile.

"So what are you going to do now Travis?" Rachel asked me worried.

I looked at her and then back at my bike, "To go learn from my mistakes." I said as I walked to my bike and drove down the road. I drove back to Wintergarden Park where I met up with all of my friends and my girlfriend who were all eating Mcdonalds. I walked up to see some of them laughing and or contributing to conversation. "Hey guys." I said to them.

All of them looked back at me as Karina, Shawn, and Robin swarmed me and Amber ran up to me bear hugging me. DJ walked over to me as he asked me if I was okay. I told them I was feeling better and DJ handed me three new rings. I looked at them and noticed a bigger yellow stone with a gold jewel piece on the top, "This must be Land Dragon." I said as I looked at the new spell rings. The first one was a dragon holding a boulder and the second one was a dragon but his waist down was shaped into a drill. I looked up at DJ, "Thanks DJ." I said with a caring smile.

I got clunked upside the back of my head as Kraken appeared and began talking to me with his weird language. "I think it's time I go settle my fight with Gargoyle. He's at an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city. I'm going to head there now." I said to my friends.

"Travis I want to go with you. I wasn't there for you when the Maria situation happened, and I want to be there with you now." Amber said. I told her to hop on as I followed Kraken to the factory. When Amber got on the bike with me and wrapped her arms around my waist I heard her say something, "I don't want to lose you." For once in my life I felt like nothing was going to bring me down ever again. I had my friends to pick me back up when I did. I began driving down the road to finish off Gargoyle and let Marshall Lee rest in peace.

We quickly arrived to the abandoned factory and slowly made our way inside the building. "This used to be a building where they made plastic products. But then the whole place moved closer to town, and no one tore this place down yet." Amber said. I looked around to see all of the tools and equipment still here. I had a strong feeling that I was going to need to be on my guard.

"Amber wait right here. I'm going to go deeper in but I don't want anything to happen to you." I said as she kept put. I started walking deeper into the huge factory and then I heard someone moving about near the end of the eerie building. I ran to the spot to see if the person moving around was Gargoyle and then I saw a giant rat scuffling about. I began walking backwards and right before I turned around I saw Gargoyle swing a lead pipe at me which I quickly ducked under and then came up with an uppercut causing him to drop the pipe and then kicked him away from me.

I twirled around and faced Gargoyle with my left hand held up, "Better say your prayers because I'm here to kill you." I said to him.

 **"** **Driver On, please."**

"Those are some dangerous words right there. But they are as only dangerous as the effort you put into them to make them a reality." Gargoyle said. I flipped the levers on my belt and slid my Flame ring on my finger.

 **"** **Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform!"**

"Transform." I said scanning my ring over the singing belt.

 **"** **Flame, please. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

The red spell circle moved from my left side to my right and I began to run into action. Gargoyle stayed in his human form as I swung my right arm to his face but he grabbed it with his hands and then raised his left elbow, "Oh no you don't!" I said as I pulled out of his grasp and then took a huge step in and tried my punch again hitting him square in the face. He took a few steps back and I lifted my fists up in the air as he took the same fighting stance. He reached out and grabbed another pole and threw it at me and I spun around to the left dodging the pole. I grabbed a spell ring from my chain holder and slid it, "I think it's time I keep you still so I can kill you." I said as I flipped the levers once again.

 **"** **Bind, please."**

Red circles formed around him and chains shot out wrapping themselves around his body and he began tugging trying to break free. "You think you have what it takes to kill me? You think you have what it takes to kill a human being?!" He started roaring at me. I grabbed my Kick Strike ring and scanned it.

 **"** **Very Nice! Kick Strike! The Best!"**

"We are about to see aren't we?" I said as my right foot was engulfed in flames and I levitated up in the air and then came zooming down towards him but when my kick collided I felt something hard and my foot was in some serious pain. I fell onto the ground as my attack was canceled and when I looked up to see what happened, Gargoyle had finally transformed and became stone. "The hell?" I said as Gargoyle dispelled his stone armor.

"Whew that was a close one." He said. I summoned out my sword and put it in gun mode as I scanned my Big ring in it.

"Let's see if your stone can stop a giant bullet from going through it." I said to him still on the ground.

 **"** **Big Shooting Strike!"**

A spell circle appeared a couple inches away from my gun and I pulled the trigger as a bullet hit the circle and became a bullet the size of a fist and Gargoyle turned to stone and when the bullet hit him, it made no impact what so ever. The bullet shattered to pieces as it struck the areas around Gargoyle.

Suddenly I heard some noise come up behind me and when I finally was able to stand up and endure the pain in my foot I saw Ghouls quickly grab me, kicked the back of my legs and had me kneeled onto the ground as they held me in the position I was in and anytime I tried to fight back they would cause pain in my arms to keep me from moving. Gargoyle then dropped his stone armor and walked up with me and grabbed my throat, "That spell might've worked on previous Phantoms who had impenetrable-like armor but it won't work on me. Think about it, no matter what spell you use you can't kill me. This is just one Phantom you can't beat and I'm going to make you remember that in the most painful way possible." Gargoyle said as he transformed his right hand into stone and jabbed me in the chest. The Ghouls released me and I was lifted off the ground by Gargoyle as he spun and threw me up at one of the walkways above us. I banged my head on one of the bars as I fell on my back breathing for air. I rolled on my side as I began crawling and grabbed something to hoist myself back up on my feet.

The Ghouls jumped up high into the air as they were now just a few feet away from me with their spears in their hands, "My weapon is down on the ground, mind if I borrow yours?" I said looking at them. The Ghouls nodded their heads about as if they were confused. I rushed towards them and one of them thrusted their spear. I jumped onto the bars of the walk way and jumped off with my body spiraling above the Ghouls. I landed in the middle of them as I kicked the one behind me and then turned and punched one across the face causing him to fall to the floor. The one in front of me turned around and thrusted his spear at me but I quickly moved to the left and grabbed his weapon as I punched the monster in the face and then raised the spear and threw it into the last Ghoul. The Ghoul fell backwards as it exploded causing the entire walk way to fall to the ground. I took this time to jump over the bars and roll onto the ground as I stood back up.

"Impressive. After the pain in your foot and getting the wind knocked out of you, you are still able to fight. You have come a long way since you started, but it's not going to last for very long." Gargoyle said. I grabbed a different transformation ring and slid it on my finger.

"If this battle is going to be a test of strength, then I will meet you all the way." I said as I flipped the levers on my belt.

 **"** **Land, please. Earth! Earth! Earth! Earth!"**

A yellow spell circle appeared at my feet and moved up towards my head revealing my yellow form and then I grabbed my new transformation ring and flipped the levers again.

 **"** **Land…DRAGON! Rumble Rumble R-R-Rumble Quake! Rumble Rumble Quake!"**

A yellow spell circle appeared in front of me and moved its way through my body revealing my new Dragon Style form. The black on my Land Style went to a goldish yellow and three of my yellow gems were across my chest as my helmet was enlarged. On my shoulders were yellow square gemstones and when my transformation was over you could see wings on my back that were made out of dust and then vanished. I breathed in and kept one hand of mine near my face while I had the other held out to my opponent.

"Very impressive looking. If you think you are that strong let's see how well you can handle this!" Gargoyle said as he lifted his hands and I noticed that everything around us began to lift up in the air. Then he focused them all on one point: me. He thrusted his hands towards me and everything from boxes to machines began flying towards me.

"Not good!" I said as I grabbed a ring hoping that my Defend ring could help.

 **"** **Very Nice! Gravity! Fabulous!"**

"Huh? Wait a minute that can't be right?" I thought but I didn't have time so I summoned out a spell circle in front of me and when everything came to hit me, they hit the circle and I could tell that I had control of the objects that were supposed to hit me. I flourished my spell hand and sent all of the objects towards Gargoyle who just turned to stone and everything that hit him didn't even leave a scratch. I then watched him revert back and his hands began emanating a bright glow.

"Let's see who is stronger at manipulating gravity Wizard!" He said as he shot out his mana towards me. I re-scanned my ring and shot out the same yellow mana towards him. Our mana's collided and we were at an equal standpoint. Our mana was now battling each other and trying to overpower the other. I stayed rooted where I was trying to come up with a plan to get a one second distraction that could give me an advantage over Gargoyle.

"Damn it I can't find any openings on him, plus I can feel my mana getting low. If I don't end this fight soon I'm going to get really screwed." I thought. Then I started noticing his mana was beginning to overpower mine and I ended up feeling my strength fading. I started to get pushed back little by little and I knew that I going to have to dispel my attack. I then noticed some movement behind Gargoyle and when I got a better look I saw Amber holding a pole in her hands and came rushing at Gargoyle. She smacked Gargoyle upside the head and he quickly back kicked her and sent her flying up against a shelf of poles that fell on top of her. Gargoyle was distracted long enough and I overpowered his mana and poured more of my mana as anger began filling me up of hurting her. My spell finally reached him and once it hit him Gargoyle couldn't move.

"That damn bitch!" Gargoyle cursed. I then lifted his body up in the air and slammed him down hard on the ground. A circle appeared around his body and my yellow mana turned into a spell circle and it was putting a lot of strain on him.

"You got a lot of nerve to touch her!" I said as I grabbed my new spell ring and slid it on my finger. My spell circle stayed where it was.

"You think you can kill me with just putting weight on me? I can still turn into stone even with all of this pressure on me!" He said as he turned to stone.

 **"** **Lupacchi Magic Touch to Go! Drill, please!"**

I jumped up into the air and I watched as more of my yellow mana formed around my feet that I put together and began spinning rapidly in midair. I then launched myself towards Gargoyle and when I made contact I ended up breaking through his shell and shattered his entire body. I then dispelled my attack and jumped away from him as the rest of his body exploded. I dispelled my transformation and ran towards Amber to make sure she was alive. When I finally got to her she was pushing the poles off of her and was all bloodied up and cuts all over as well as some bruises.

"Were you asking for a death wish?! Like holy shit I could've lost you! What the hell were you thinking?!" I said sternly. She was brushing herself off and looking all over her body at her wounds.

"Well shit a simple thank you would've sufficed." She said in pain. I quickly grabbed her just happy that she was safe and holding her I started to calm down.

"Thank you. Now let's get you back to DJ's and get you patched up." I said as we walked past the hole in the floor. "Marshall, I hope you can rest in peace now."


	19. A Shattered Mage

Author's Comments: So this entire chapter is going to be nothing but build up for the final chapter of this book. I bring my OC Characters Casey Morrison and Ashley back with them showing off a bit of what they can do. This is the longest chapter I've ever written and it took alot of time to do it so I'm hoping it pays off. Also go read CasualScrubLord's stuff its pretty good and intense. Get ready for alot of stuff to start hitting the fan in this chapter and thanks so much for sticking with me this far. The next and final chapter for Book 1 is going to be a huge fight chapter and when it's over I'll be taking a small break from Wizard to finish up Deadman Wonderland: The Next Generation on here so go check that out if you guys haven't yet. Thanks again for reading this and here is Chapter 19.

* * *

I was stumbling towards the bike and then laid up against it with Amber, "I need to rest real quick. That ring combination I used drained a lot of mana really quick." I said to her. Amber put her head on my shoulder and wrapped one arm around me.

"Aren't you glad I helped? I love you and you were in need of some assistance." She said rubbing her face on my chest. I raised one hand and patted her head. I looked up at the sky and noticed how calm everything around us was. My body started to feel a bit heavy and I used what little mana I had left to at least grab my blanket and wrap us in it.

"I think I'm going to pass out right here. This spot is pretty comfortable." I said wrapping the blanket around us. I know I ended up falling asleep knowing that maybe if I rest up I'll get some of my mana back. Within seconds I passed out and the next time I woke up it was just starting to be night time. When I looked over I saw a note on the ground. I opened it up to see a letter from Amber.

 _"_ _Hey hero, sorry I had to leave. I had something come up at home so I had to leave. I left you a bag of donuts on your bike handle hope you eat them and get better. –Amber"_

I got up and looked at my right handlebar to see a grocery bag with donuts in it and I started to eat them. "Plain sugar. She knows me so well." I said with a smile on my face. I noticed that I was still exhausted but had enough mana to get home on. "You know, I think I'm going to go get Amber something. I know she likes those chocolate flavored M&Ms. I'll stop by one of the gas stations and pick a few up for her." I thought as I drove down to the nearest gas station. There I picked up about three bags and walked out. When I did I saw someone familiar and I ran up to the person.

"Hey Manuela. Are you doing okay?" I asked her as she stood there with the same expressionless look on her face. She then began to break down and ran up and hugged me crying. "Hey hey what's wrong? Are you okay?" I asked her. She was wearing a blue long sleeve floral shirt and she showed me her right arm and pulled the sleeve up to see what looked like lines spiraling up her arm. My eyes open wide and began asking her what happened. She had told me about a place not far from where we were and that it had just happened. I had her get on my bike with me as we drove to the direction where it was at. "I don't have a lot of mana but I just can't ignore this. I'm hoping that it won't be long." I said as we got to the Wintergarden park where I first clashed with Gargoyle. I kept Manuela behind me as she pointed to me the bench that was in the middle of the field. I walked up to the bench to see the same marks on the bench.

"Manuela what happened here? How come you are being attacked by Phantoms? I thought I destroyed the Phantom inside you?" I asked as I turned around to see Medusa standing right behind Manuela.

"Good girl. I didn't think you would actually bring him to us." She said rubbing her hands down the sides of her face. Manuela began crying and I knew this was a set up. I went to scan my Driver On ring but Medusa sent her head full of snakes to wrap themselves around my arms and legs as they started to grow a bright green. I began screaming in pain as my mana started to rapidly drop and when almost all of it was gone I fell onto the ground and the last thing I saw was Medusa walking towards me.

(Karina's Viewpoint)

-The Next Day-

I was trying to call Travis but he wasn't picking up. Instead I get his voicemail…Again. "Bro, it's been a day and I haven't heard from you. Can you please come home and see us. We are all worried about you." I said before closing the top of my phone. I looked out to everyone sitting in the living room.

"Maybe he is spending time with Amber? You know that when Travis is out with her nothing else seems to matter. He has been spending a lot of time with her lately, he even took her with him to fight Gargoyle." Robin said. Shawn agreed with Robin.

"Probably having an intimate time with her." Shawn said.

That thought bothered me greatly. I looked at DJ for some advice, "What do you think we should do? Normally Travis comes home after fighting but he hasn't and normally he gets back with me very quickly. I feel like something bad has happened."

"Travis is probably spending time with Amber. Remember he is still young and this is his first love so maybe he's out doing things with her. Anyone have Amber's number? Maybe we can get ahold of her and let her know we are a bit worried." I suggested. Everyone just shook their heads. I heard a knock on the door and I got up to answer it. When I opened the door I didn't see anyone. I began to walk outside and when I did I didn't see anyone.

"TRAVIS! Come on out stop playing games! We are all worried sick about you!" I yelled out into the countryside. I turned around to see a bunch of Ghouls standing on top of the roof of DJ's place. I began to scream as they jumped down and ran inside attacking everyone and throwing them out into the front yard with me. I was quickly pinned down and two spears crossed paths above my neck keeping me pinned on the ground. I looked to see everyone else in the same position next to me and then I saw a familiar face walking in front of us. "I knew it…" I said as Amber bent down with this wide smile on her face.

"Knew what honey? That I was a Phantom this entire time? Well glad to see that I have a counterpart who can track Phantoms, meaning you will be the first to die. Oh Wiseman is going to love me when I bring a Philosopher Stone that will boost our powers." She said to me.

"Philosopher Stone? What do you mean by that?!" I demanded.

Amber put her fingers on my lips, "Shh shh shh. You don't need to know anything. Why should people know things if they are going to die. In less than two minutes you will die from not having mana put into you and when your eyes fully closed I will extract the stone from your body and then I will murder all of your friends. Oooh Travis is going to have an emotional blast when I bring one body part from each of you and throw it in his face. Until then he will lay broken as he is on the floor where he fought Gargoyle yesterday." Amber then began laughing as she stood back up.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?" I yelled at her. Suddenly my body started to feel extremely weak and tired. "I'm losing energy…" I thought as Amber just stood there with this confident smile on her face.

"Phoenix and I broke him in every way possible. My master should be attending to him now and we will extract the despair that lies in his heart." I saw Amber walk over to Shawn as she bent down and placed her hand under his chin and lifted his head. "Also I'm glad you mentioned about that ancient artifact from a couple months back. That stoned gauntlet will prove useful for our plans with Travis."

"How the hell did you know about that?!" Shawn said in anger.

"My boyfriend said it while we were hanging out. He was going to come by and get it off of you." Amber said. Amber stood back up and walked over to me and everything around me was fading to black slowly but surely. The spears around my neck were removed and Amber transformed into her snake haired monster form. "The name is Medusa. I hope where you go you enjoy it more than you did here girl. I'll make sure to send Travis to you so you won't be so alone." Medusa said. The snakes shot out from her hair and wrapped around my entire body. "Now give me that sweet mana Travis has been filling you with the past five months." She said with a chuckle.

I could hear all of my friends crying out my name and I closed my eyes expecting my death. I heard something zip through the air and I fell onto the ground. I opened my eyes and when I looked up I saw a man standing in front of me. He had short black hair, light brown skin, black cargos with a black long sleeve and turtle collared shirt, a shiny black book bag as well as two holsters attached at his hip and one of them had a circular blade in it. Medusa was screaming as her snakes were on the ground dead and when she bent down to pick them up, the person in front of me turned to his left side and kicked Medusa about ten feet away from him. The Ghouls had raised their weapons and went to go stab my friends and then the person in front of me had quickly vanished. I got up off the ground to see him behind one of the Ghouls and shoved twisted their head off and then grabbed it's neck and threw it hard into the others like he was throwing a bowling ball down a lane. I looked at the ground as something levitated off of it and zoomed into his hand. The blade that saved my life was a blood colored Chakram. Medusa got up off the ground furious.

"Who the HELL are you?!" She said pissed. The person standing in front of me looked at us as he opened his holster and shoved his blade inside. He then slowly turned his head to look at Medusa.

"The name's Casey Morrison, and you're going to tell me where Travis is if you value your life that is. If not I'll be carving up that ugly ass face of yours Amber." He said to her in a threatening tone. Medusa took out some pebbles and threw a bunch of them on the ground as they transformed into Ghouls. Eight of them appeared and the man named Casey opened up his holsters and pulled them both out. Each Chakram had a bar in the open space of the blades where he placed his hands and held them up as he took a fighting stance. He had his right foot out and his left foot in the back pointed sideways. His right hand was held out until his blade was directly above his right knee and brought his left blade that was a bright yellow, he kept at his left side. "Get behind me all of you!" He demanded. All of us rushed behind him and the Ghouls started to advance towards us. The closest one started running towards Casey and he just stood there.

Once the Ghoul got to a certain distance Casey dropped his blood red chakram and it went soaring through the air until it sliced at the Ghoul's side. The Ghoul started stumbling and still moving towards us, "So that's how it's going to be huh." He said under his breath as he threw the yellow chakram and once he threw it, Casey vanished. The blade went and began carving up the Ghoul and so did the red one. The blades started slicing the Ghoul all over and Casey was still nowhere in sight. Suddenly the Ghoul fell to the ground and the yellow Chakram began to glow as Casey appeared next to it and grabbed the spear the Ghoul was holding. "Thanks for the weapon." He said to it as he put his foot underneath the glowing Ghoul's body and flipped it sideways into the air, "You guys can't have your friend back." He said as Casey jumped sideways in the air and made a powerful kick to the Ghoul as it went spiraling towards the group and exploded taking out three of the others in the blast.

"Only four left huh? This will be cake." He said as the two blades that were still levitating began zooming and striking at all of the Ghouls and Casey quickly vanished in front of us and reappeared in the middle of the Ghouls. He raised one fist and punched at the one closest to him and kicked another one in the side. The entire time he was fist fighting the monsters his blades were zooming all over attacking the Ghouls that were either close to him or coming at him. Casey ran up to the Ghoul he punched and grabbed it's neck with his right hand and I saw his hand buff up as he twisted his arm and a loud snap was made. He let go of its body and kicked it away from him as it exploded. Another Ghoul was able to get out of the confusion of the blades zipping around and grabbed Casey from behind and put him in a headlock. The Ghoul was able to slam Casey onto the ground and once Casey hit the ground I saw the red Chakram hover over the Ghoul's back and Casey vanished and reappeared above the Ghoul with his foot on it's back. He then grabbed the Chakram that was hovering and stabbed it in the back of the head and ran it down it's spine until his blade came out from the end.

Casey grabbed both ends and vanished then reappeared behind the last two Ghouls which he dropped the corpse of the Ghoul and kicked the back legs of the two standing as they fell on their knees. Casey's blades zoomed back to him and he grabbed them and placed them back in their holsters as he vanished and reappeared facing us. "You guys okay?" He asked us as the Ghouls exploded behind him. All of us just had our mouths wide open, except for Shawn his mouth looked like it was ready to drop to the ground.

"Are you single?" Robin asked. DJ elbowed her in the side and she ended up apologizing. I ended up falling onto the ground as I couldn't stay up much longer and I collapsed.

I woke up some time later and I was laying on the couch in the living room. "Am I dead?" I asked. I looked over to see Casey handing me a cup of water.

"No you're not dead. You should be, but thanks to me you're not." Casey said. I looked around confused.

"I haven't had any mana for three days. How am I still alive?" I asked. I tried to move and I felt something on my chest. When I looked at it I saw another yellow Chakram lying there. There were words written in cursive on it that said that word, "Hope."

"You need to stay within five feet of that blade. While that blade stays close to you, you won't have to worry about dying because of loss of mana. If you decide to move around it would be wise of you to hold it. I'm going to go find Travis and bring him home so you guys don't worry. Until I find him Karina I want you to hold onto that blade." He instructed me.

I looked at Casey and couldn't shake the image of him looking almost like Travis, but he was a lot shorter than Travis by maybe five inches and had this air about him that was more mature and serious. Travis's skin was a bit darker than his and their facial features were a bit different. Casey's face was more slim than Travis's and his nose was smaller than his as well. I watched as Casey took out a phone and pressed a button.

"Babe, have you found anything on Travis's location yet?" He asked someone. "Nothing? It's impossible for someone to just vanish in this town without anyone noticing." Casey responded back.

"Medusa said something about Travis being at a place where he fought Gargoyle. But I don't know where that is." DJ said. Casey told this to the person on the phone and then hung up. He seemed to be stressed a bit. We heard a knock on the door and then someone walked in. Once Casey heard the knock he immediately grabbed his red Chakram and got in a defensive stance as Manuela walked through.

"Manuela?!" Robin said as she ran to her side. Casey put his blade back and hurried over to Manuela's side. She was really beat up and her clothes bloodied, her face looks like she was put through a lot of abuse just recently. She was violently shaking and looked like she was about to have a huge panic attack. DJ quickly cleared the two away and when Manuela went to take one step she fell onto the ground and started violently shaking all over the place. DJ ran over to pick her up in his arm's and carried her over to the couch that was paralleled from me. He put her down and Shawn ran to grab water and bring it to her. DJ was trying to get her to calm down but Manuela was too busy saying the same thing over and over again while having a breakdown moment.

"Forgive me...Forgive me…Forgive me…Forgive me…Forgive me…Forgive me…" She kept saying over and over again.

"Manuela stay calm okay. I need you to breathe and try to calm down. I'm going to try and help you but I need you to calm down with me can you do that?" DJ said softly to her. But she wasn't listening and her eyes were wide open as if she saw something she shouldn't have. "Manuela you need to try and relax. Nobody is going to hurt you here, you are safe. I need you to get ahold of yourself and breathe, please try and breathe with me." DJ said trying to calm her down. DJ had always been good at therapeutic things but Manuela was not showing any signs of calming down. Casey walked over as his left hand started to emit a bright glow and he placed it on her head.

"Manuela, I need you to stay calm. I'm going to try and calm you down but I need you to understand that you are in a safe place. I need you to listen to these words and when you are able to, I want you to tell me what happened." Casey repeated this again about two more times. On the repeat Manuela started to calm down very quickly and on the last attempt she started speaking but was still a bit shaky with not just her body but her voice.

"I'm the reason…Travis…Travis is…Mi-mi-missing…I led him into a-a-trap. It's all my-my-my fault." She said. Everyone's face dropped to the floor and I know I was pissed at her.

"WHY?! WHY DID YOU DO IT?! HE SAVED YOUR LIFE! HE'S MY FRIEND! WHY COULD YOU JUST DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!" I said roaring at her. Casey got in front of her with his hands up as Manuela had a terrified look on her face.

"It's not fully her fault. She was manipulated by Medusa to lure Travis. But thank's to the information I just got I know where Travis is. I'm heading there now." Casey said. He then called someone and the person on the other end had picked up. "Ashley, I know where Travis is. Go to the abandoned factory down the road from Wintergarden Park. Go straight out pass the gas station and you should see a factory that is run down and decrepit. I'll meet up with you soon." He said then turned off his phone. Casey looked at my friends telling them to keep me under control until he got back. I remember glaring at Manuela who just rolled on her side and looked away from me.

"I swear to God you better hope that Travis is okay when he comes back Manuela." I thought to myself as Casey ran out the door.

(Travis's Viewpoint)

I was dangling in midair from chains that were wrapped around my wrist's and waist. I had deep cuts all over my body, bruises all over my face, and blood streams all over my mouth and nose. My eyes were blood shot and my clothes were ripped and holed all over. I could barely see what was in front of me and I felt like the only thing keeping me alive was sheer will power. The past twelve hours I had been tortured by Medusa and Phoenix. Phoenix would use me as a punching bag and Medusa would steal my mana and put it inside this stone on her staff. The twelve hours had felt like three days and my body felt like it was on the verge of collapsing. I heard a noise inside the factory and that shot fear across my mind. I heard the footsteps and my heart started to beat really fast and I saw Amber walk in.

"Amber? Is that you? How did you find me?" I said as she slowly walked up to me. She wasn't saying anything and I was starting to feel somewhat relieved to see her. "Hey you could speak anytime you'd like. Can you get me down?" I said to her. She put on this huge smile on her face, but it wasn't her normal smile, it was something sinister.

"You know it's been a lot of fun playing your girlfriend. But now I don't need to do that to you anymore. I can finally come out and show you who I really am." She said. A purple mist formed around her and then I saw Medusa. My immediate reaction was violently shaking all over the place and trying to break free from my chains but I couldn't. Medusa walked around me in circles for a bit. "When you first saw me at the cave exploration I was the only Phantom amongst you. When we got into the caves and I took you guys deeper to become Phantoms, I didn't know that you and Manuela had trailed off. You could call it destiny that you two escaped from death. Then that night couple months ago in the middle of the night while I was searching for Gates, you saw me and I had to escape. Then I set up a scenario with Cait Sith who was getting chased by Ghouls to see if what I was hearing from the other Phantoms were true and it was. Then I made an arrangement of acting as your seductive girlfriend to get close to you and friends. It's so easy to manipulate people who are emotionally broken like you were. I even got a bit lost because I was using my host's emotions and thoughts on who she was before I was born. Funny how Amber was just a snake in human skin, and a slutty one at that too."

Fear began to overwhelm me as well as depression and extreme guilt. "I can't believe I fell for a Phantom so easily." I thought to myself as I began beating myself up internally. Medusa wasn't even done with her little monologue.

"My master told me to keep what I was doing and so I did. Then while you were asleep you mentioned something about an ancient artifact that your friend Shawn had. I sent Phoenix to go look for it and we took it. Don't need you getting any more upgrades. I don't know how Shawn got his hands on that device but it is ours now. Phoenix and I were the ones who set fire to the house when I gave you that kiss at Grounds For Thought as well. You told me everything I needed to know while dating, but let me tell you this. When it came to that lovely evening in my bedroom, you had to be one of the worst people I ever slept with. But hey I had to keep up appearances with you and keep acting like I was in love with you since this was all part of my master's plan. Would you like to know why I'm collecting your mana? I'm collecting your mana because in just a few minutes I'll have enough mana to create our very own Wizard."

When Medusa said that I felt something stab me in my back and the process of my mana being transferred started and the pain felt like my very bones were being ripped from the inside out. A deafening scream was made once the pain started and I was screaming with my head looking straight up. This process goes on for about fifteen minutes and Medusa will leave my body with very little mana and then about two hours later will come back and do this again. Amber was standing in front of me but I couldn't focus on her, "Does it hurt? How about I do something that will make you feel really good so it can take your mind off the pain. At least I can get one more type of excitement before I have to kill you. Also you won't be needing this ring anymore." She said as she took my Driver On ring that was on my finger off. I heard that noise that was made when the Phantoms revert back and then felt something come off my body.

"Oh God no." I thought as Medusa put her hands around my neck and started moving up and down on my body. Then I felt her legs wrap around my thighs and while she was having her way with me I could feel my body becoming heavy and my mana almost gone. "She's not just raping me but she is planning on draining my mana until I die! Someone help!" I roared inside my head. Amber kept riding me and I felt like if something didn't stop in the two minutes I wasn't going to be able to keep hanging onto my life anymore.

Sometime had passed and I felt like I only had a drop of my mana left in me as Amber got off of me as she backed up. "Well I guess this is enough. Now it's time for the ritual." She said. The pain had finally subsided greatly and I was just barely keeping my eyes open. The staff that was in my back ripped itself out causing me a lot of pain and then I looked to see a bright light in front of me. "Remember back when you found the magical Dragon Stone that held the power you now possess? Well in order for you to obtain the power you now have you had to have faced your despair. I watched that happened as I sent a Ghoul to kill you and Karina. You fought back against your despair and sent it back inside yourself. With this staff and the mana I have drained from you over the past fourteen hours, I can now summon that very dark self of yours straight out of your body." Medusa said as she tapped her staff on the ground and a giant spell circle formed around me.

"Let's begin." She said. I opened my eyes to see a bright light from her staff strike at my chest causing more pain and I felt something ripping itself from my body and in a few seconds the pain stopped. I started to breathe really heavy as my body became immersed in sweat and my wounds having re-opened and bleeding out. I looked at what was someone who was an exact replica of myself. He even wore the same clothes as me, except for the jacket. He was wearing this black leather trench coat and his eyes were that of an eclipse. Medusa had this stoned gauntlet in her hands as she shoved it inside his back and I saw a belt form around his waist that was the same as mine but instead of a gold hand, there was red. Medusa then gave him my Driver On ring and when he slid it on his finger, the gold on it changed to red.

"This is your despair incarnate. All of your hate, anger, depression, sadness, fear, and every other negative emotion given a human form. He is stronger, faster, more intelligent, and deadlier than you will ever be. Go ahead and introduce yourself, Dark Wizard." Medusa said.

My dark-self walked straight up to me and grabbed my hair as he pulled it back, "Hello loser. Boy it's nice to finally get out of your body. When you kicked me into those spikes I have to admit that hurt a bit. But now that I'm out I get to have some fun. Oh it's going to be a hell of a party as I go and kill some people." My dark self said laughing. Then his tone switched to a serious one, "Let me tell you something Travis. You go out of your way to save people, even put yourself out on the line for them. You do all these amazing things to help others and protect their hope, but when you need someone to save you from your own despair, who is there to answer the call? Because you've been here for fourteen hours getting raped and tortured. Where are your friends? Where are the people you have saved? They are gone. People are only out for themselves. Not a single damn person on this planet truly cares about another. If you think I'm wrong look at Manuela, you went into her Underworld and saved her from her despair, you saved her and her sister from Kamaitachi, and looked what she did to you. She led you here. Think about Mark, he was your best and only friend. He was the guy you trusted and what happened? He sold you out to a gang that almost beat you to death while he just stood and watched! Let's look at Amber, the girl you fell in love with. She was playing you this entire time for her own gain, she never ever cared about you." He said to me.

I started to think about what he said. Everything he said was true, I go out of my way to help people and all I do is end up getting hurt. When I need someone in my time of need there is no one there. I started to think about why I should even bother helping people and those thoughts started to race around in my head. Before I had time to make any sense of what was going on I heard something get activated.

 **"** **Connect, now."**

I looked at my self pull out my swordgun from the spell circle and ran the blade through my left ribcage. He then got up close to my face, "I want you to look at everything around you. I want you to know that in your darkest hour, in your most desperate time of need, there is no one here for you. I want you to think about that while you die. If you are to bring people Hope, then I am the one to bring their Despair. I want you to know that right now nobody gives a DAMN about you and what you have done! Everything you have done has been pointless! The Phantoms will take over this world and if anyone defies Master Wiseman then I will rip their skulls out of their heads with these hands. First I will start with your so called friends, and then when I'm done with them, I'll go after the people you saved. It's going to be fun to have your friend's last sight be their closest friend ripping them to shreds. They won't even know that it's not you until the very last second. Have fun rotting in Hell." He said as he turned the blade sideways and ripped it out of left side.

(Medusa's Viewpoint)

Travis's body finally collapsed and his blood was started to pour out like a fountain. "Dark Wizard, go and destroy Travis's friends and anybody who isn't a Gate. It should be easy for you to know who is a Gate and who isn't. I gave you some of my power to sense Gates during the ritual. I will dispose of this body." I commanded. Dark Wizard began to bow and when he was about to leave I heard a voice.

"HEY WHORE!" I knew that voice from anywhere and when I turned around I saw the boy named Casey breathing heavily and sweating.

"A little late aren't you?" I said as I patted Travis's body.

Casey's eyes widened, "I swear to God if he's dead I'm going to rip your head off and shove it deep into your body so help me." He said violently.

"Go into the city. I can easily take care of this little pest." I instructed Dark Wizard.

 **"** **Teleport, now"**

Dark Wizard scanned his new ring and was enveloped in a black light and then disappeared. I then focused on my attention to Casey. "If you want this dead corpse so badly then why don't you try and take it from me." I said to him. I started to slowly walk towards Casey and then I noticed he had stopped breathing and just stood there like he was a tree. "Why isn't he moving? Something's wrong here." I thought. Then I noticed that his body started to fade away, "SHIT he moved so fast he left an image behind!?" I looked around to try and find him and when I did I noticed that Travis's body wasn't hanging in midair and was missing. "Where the hell did his body go?!" I wondered.

"Over here Amber!" I heard Casey say as he was back where he was holding Travis's body on his back.

"You're just full of surprises aren't you? What else can you do?" I asked mocking him.

Casey was holding Travis in his left hand which began glowing a bright yellow light and when I looked closely I noticed that Travis's wound he had received started to heal. I grabbed my staff and shot a purple ball of mana towards him, "He's already dead so there is no use in saving him!" I said as my ball zoomed towards Casey. I then watched as a girl ran up behind Casey and opened a bottle of water and splashed its contents on the floor. She then lifted her hands up to eye level and the water on the ground quickly formed a wall that absorbed my attack. The girl was wearing a black baseball sleeved shirt with the chest piece white, blue jeans, had black hair, white skinned, and her eyes were glowing a bright blue color.

"Ashley we are getting out of here, NOW!" Casey said as he placed Travis down. The girl named Ashley scooped out some of her water and walked over to Travis's body and placed it on his wounds while the wall of water was still up. Casey walked over to her position and lifted his left hand, "You remind me a lot of a girl who went by the same name as you who put me through a similar hell and torture. Go say hi to her for me!" Casey threatened as he pushed the water at me.

The water rushed at me with extreme speed and quickly surrounded me, "You think a pool of water is going to stop me?" I said laughing. Then the water turned into ice freezing me into place. I looked at Casey's right hand that started to emanate a big black aura as he turned it into a fist and pointed it down at the ground.

"The water nor the ice is something you should be worrying about. What you should be worrying about is about a ton of metal collapsing on your monsterous body." He said as he punched the ground. A shockwave was sent throughout the entire factory as all of the metal around us started levitating up in the air and bending at random directions. Then the building started to bend towards middle where I was standing. I looked at Casey who had grabbed Ashley and Travis and teleported out. I started to scream as the entire factory bent and focused at crashing on top of me.

(Travis's Viewpoint)

-Five Hours Later-

I slowly started to open my eyes and looked around the room I was in. "It's my bedroom at DJ's? Was I having another nightmare?" I thought as I tried to sit up and felt a lot of pain on my chest. I looked to see me have bandages wrapped around from my stomach and up to my armpits. Then I had bandages wrapped around my shoulders and in other places of my body. I saw my pants were on me and I looked at the clock to see it was almost eight pm. I slowly started to get out of my bed and when I did I fell onto the ground. "It wasn't a nightmare." I said under my breath. I started to walk to the living room using the walls as some type of support to keep myself elevated. "I thought I was dead. How am I alive?" I wondered as I slowly made my way to the living room. I was almost there when I heard a voice.

"I'm going to go check on Travis." The voice was familiar but I was too worn out to make it out. I stopped in the empty white hallway as the person was looking at the ground while she was walking to my room. The person coming to check on me was Manuela. When she finally looked up at me I got up in her face and grabbed her by the throat and slammed her up against the wall.

"ITS YOUR FUCKING FAULT! ALL OF THIS IS YOUR GODDAMN FAULT! YOU FUCKING SOLD ME OUT AND BECAUSE OF YOU PEOPLE ARE GOING TO FUCKING DIE!" I roared at her forgetting about how worn out my body was and the pain I was still in. I was fueled by my rage and I kept slamming her body at the wall. "IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU I WOULD'NT HAVE HAD TO GO THROUGH ALL OF THIS HELL! I GOT RAPED AND TORTURED BECAUSE OF YOU! I PROTECTED YOU AND SAVED YOU FROM DESPAIRING! I SAVED YOU FROM DYING AND YOU STABBED ME IN THE FUCKING BACK! YOU SHOULD JUST DIE JUST LIKE YOUR FUCKING SISTER!" I said without stopping. I raised my right fist and when I did I felt someone grab my arm. I looked over to see Casey with a serious look on his face. I then looked to see my friends as well as the girl named Ashley standing in the hallway. Casey spoke to me in a really deep tone.

"You put her down now or so help me I'll break this arm. She is just as much of a victim as you, now put her down. NOW TRAVIS!" Casey yelled at me and I released my grip on her as Manuela fell onto the ground. I broke free from Casey's grip and then I started to feel dizzy. DJ came running up to me and helped me to the living room as Ashley and Karina helped Manuela to the same room. Manuela sat on the other end of the room from me as Ashley was checking on her throat. I was still infuriated a bit of why I should have let Manuela go.

Casey handed me a bottle of water, "You are going to want to drink this. It will help with your injuries and get back your mana." He suggested. I opened the bottle and began drinking it. I started noticing the effects right away as my mana started to build up inside me and the pain in my body was slowly subsiding.

"What is this holy water or something?" I asked emptying the 8oz bottle.

"You could say that." Casey said. I felt like he was joking with me but I wasn't caring.

"So you said Manuela was just as much as a victim as I was. What do you mean by that?" I asked. Casey motioned Ashley to bring Manuela over to have her speak to me. Manuela was terrified and it took her a bit. Ashley and Manuela sat on the sofa across from me as she began to speak.

"Amber came up to me and said if I helped lure you back to the factory that she could revive my sister. I didn't believe her at first but then she was able to persuade me by saying things about magic. I then thought maybe she was talking the truth because I've seen what magic can do. I tried to assure her if my sister would come back and when she did I ended up listening to her. Then when I brought you to the factory I watched as she chained you up and began to torture you while I was forced to watch. She had those grey monsters with spears hold me down as I watched you get drained of your power and then the red Phantom named Phoenix beat you down. I had to watch you bleed and become broken and it scared me. I then realized my mistake and tried to break free to find help. My first attempt at breaking free costed me to get the same torture by Amber who I found to be called Medusa. She physically abused me while rubbing my sister's death in my face. She had told me that she was the one who put the bruises on her body and is the reason why she died in the hospital. I was thrown in a room inside the factory. A couple hours had gone by and one of the Phantoms came and freed me. It was a green phantom that went by the name Gremlin and brought me all the way here. I'm so sorry Travis. You have every right to harm me, you have every right to be mad at me." She said. She was going to keep going but Ashley wrapped her arms around her and hugged her.

"Manuela is still suffering from the loss of her sister. She is like you, emotionally broken and just hanging on by a thread. Now we have a bigger problem than this and it concerns your dark side. While you've been asleep that thing has been going around destroying the city little by little the causalities are small right now but we can't do anything about it right now. I wasted a lot of my power getting you out of there and I need to rest before I can go out and fight. It seems like you need to as well. I did not only use up my power to get you out of there, but to also patch you up as much as I could. Your dark side has been searching for this place but I have put up a special type of barrier to prevent the Phantoms from finding this place. We need to wait until morning to go and fight and I need you to bring your A game." Casey said to me. I looked at my hands as I thought about everything that is going on around me.

"I can't fight with you tomorrow. My dark side has my Driver On ring, without that I'm unable to fight back. I can't transform without my Driver On ring activating my belt. I need to transform in order to fight Dark Wizard." I said as I started to feel defeated.

The girl named Ashley put her hand on mine, "That's where we come in. We will fight and distract him long enough for you to grab your ring. This is going to be a team effort and right now you are the only one who can beat him. We may have a lot of power but this isn't our story nor is this our bad guy. This dark entity came from inside you, this is your shadow that you must defeat. We can help you fight it, but you are the only one who can destroy it." Her voice was light and calm. I looked at Manuela who still had her face up against Ashley's side.

"Before you choose your words to say to her I want you to think of something. I know about your past with Mark, you have a chance to not repeat the past. Life is all about teaching you something. You will keep re-experiencing problems as lessons until you can overcome them and not repeat them. She has apologized to you and explained herself. It may not be something you want to hear or something you can deem worthy, but you need to look at yourself and think this. If you had a chance to bring back someone you loved with all of your heart and someone convinced you to do so, would you do it? Is there someone you loved with all of your heart that you wish you could have back?" Casey said. His words hit me hard as I thought about my parents.

I wanted to say a lot of things to Manuela but instead I got up and slowly walked back to my room and Karina followed me. "Bro are you going to be okay?" She said. I was quiet until I got to my room and sat on my bed as Karina sat next to me. "Bro?" She asked worried. I just put my hands up to my face and began crying. I didn't know what to do and everything I've been through in the past twenty hours was just too overwhelming.

I had a moment from crying as I asked Karina something, "Where were you guys? I had thought about you guys and was hoping you would show up. I was so…" I ended up crying again as Karina held me in her arms.

"Amber attacked us and was going to kill us. Casey showed up and fought back to protect us. He then found out where you were from Manuela somehow and rushed to your aid. I called you so many times and got worried. I know that right now I'm scared." She said. I looked at her worried.

"Why are you scared?" I asked her.

"When I saw you come back all beat up and broken, I thought to myself that you might not be the same Travis we all know and loved. We all felt it when we saw Casey carry you through the door. I knew for sure when we all saw you slam Manuela up at the wall. What happened to you Travis?" She said with a tear rolling down her face.

I wrapped my arms around her, "I wish I knew. I'm so lost myself right now. I don't even want to go fight tomorrow. I just want all of this to end, I just want to keep thinking this is all a nightmare and I could just wake up." I heard a knock on my door and when I looked over I saw Ashley with DJ.

"Can we come in?" DJ asked. I said sure as they walked inside. DJ started to take off the bandages as some of the cuts were still on my body. Ashley had a bottle of water and poured some of the water on a cloth and then started wiping my wounds with it. I started to notice the wounds slowly heal up and it stung a little.

"So your water heals?" I asked her.

"My power can heal wounds and be used as a weapon. It all depends on how I use it." She said. She had this air about her that was just relaxing, I just couldn't place it. "I understand what you are going through right now. Casey went through the same experience with a girl named Amber five years ago. She stole his power and made him something he had always wanted, to be human. She stole more than just his power. She stole a piece of his soul as well as himself. When me and my friends came to get Casey back, he was already broken just like you are now. Casey had what he wanted, but had to make a decision on staying the way he was or go back to the person he feared being. All Casey ever wanted was a normal life, live like a normal human being. But he has never had that chance because of specific events. When I first met him he was just a person forced into a world that he knew nothing about and was completely unstable in every way. He was just trying to figure out what was going on with him and he reminded me a lot about myself when I was a kid. It was because of that I fell in love with him even though I was emotionally broken myself. Casey found friends that would do anything for him and we all helped him grow to the person he is today. He is just like you, wanting to save people from the evil things in the world and will even put his very life on the line. He doesn't want people to go through what he did." She said to me as she healed all of my wounds.

I looked at Ashley, "If Casey had the option to end all of the pain why didn't he?" I asked her.

"Casey knew that if he were to go live the life he wanted to live, it would be at the cost of his friend's lives. Casey loved us and couldn't imagine a world without all of us. What are you going to do? You are presented a decision like he was right now. You can either go and live your life without ever looking back and leave things the way they are now, or will you fight to protect the ones you love? Will you fight to protect the city you live in and the people in it? Or will you walk away and let it as well as everyone else fall in ruin?" Ashley said as she got up and walked out of the room.

DJ put his hands on my shoulder, "Travis there is time to grieve later, and I can't imagine what has happened to you. But you need to know that no matter what your friends are all here for you right now. We have never left and have supported you through everything. You have gone and saved everyone here from dying and reignited in them the reason to keep living and moving forward. In the past five months since I first met you on that rainy day when you showed up at my doorstep, you have made a lot of changes and became a better person. You have surrounded yourself with friends who would do anything for you, and you have been growing in the best man I've ever seen. You have been knocked down and thrown in the dirt a lot but you have gotten back up and fought back. It may seem hard on you now but you have to make a decision on what you want to do. Will you stand back up from this and fight? Or will you stay on the ground?" DJ said.

I looked as more people were in my doorway. It was Shawn and Robin with Manuela. "I'm here for you Master. You became my first friend I ever had and I'll never forget how you saved my life when no one else did. You've treated me like a human being since we became friends and gave me a home when I had none. I am grateful for that and because of you I have more friends who support me." Shawn said.

"You saved my mother, and made me want to work harder as a police officer. Because of you I've found more friends and the motivation to keep doing better so I can save people just like you do. This would never have been possible if you weren't there." Robin said.

"If you had not saved me, I would be dead right now along with my sister. You saved my life and I know that I have done you wrong but I will not do that anymore. I will prove to you that I can move on from everything and become better. You saved my life and I was wrong to push you away back at the hospital when you were trying to help." Manuela said.

Everyone's words started to hit me at my core as I thought about what they had said. Then Casey walked into my room, "So after hearing the supports from your friends I must ask. Are we going to go and kick some serious ass tomorrow?" He said with a light smile on his face and his hand stretched out.

I reached out and grabbed it, "Hell yea we are." I looked around at everybody, "Thank you everyone. You guys are the best friends I could ask for. I am glad to know that I have some good friends, thanks for helping me stand back up again." I said. I then stood up and walked over to Manuela, "I'm still hurting from what you have done, but I'm willing to forgive you. When I fight tomorrow I'm going to fight for not just my friends but for you too. I'm sorry for harming you." I said to her as I hugged her. I then let go and went back to my bed. "I have a huge fight tomorrow, I'm going to need to rest up for that." I said as everyone left my room except Karina.

"Can I sleep next to you?" She asked.

I positioned myself up against the wall and Karina rolled in my bed. I put the blankets over us and put my arm around her as we began to fall asleep.


	20. The Giant Showdown

Some hours had gone by as I felt someone's hand touched my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see Casey and Ashley all geared up. "It's time to go Travis." Ashley said quietly. My body was extremely tired but I forced myself to get up as I maneuvered around Karina as to not wake her. We all walked out into the living room as I saw Robin and Shawn passed out on the sofa's and right when we got to the door I heard DJ's voice. I turned around to see him in his grey sweater and blue jeans walking up to me. He was holding a para-cord bracelet.

"Years ago I had gotten involved in something really dangerous. My friends and I had almost died and everything fell on me to get them out. I lost a good friend that day protecting them but the morning of the tragic incident, that same good friend gave me this bracelet as if she knew what was going to happen. This bracelet I held onto all these years to remind myself to be strong and move forward. I am going to give it to you because I feel like you need this. No matter what happens when you walk out that door, I want you to know that everyone here will support you in your decisions and will have your back. You are not alone in this fight, you have these two and us backing you everywhere you go. Remember Travis, you. Are. Never. Alone" DJ said as he hugged me and I hugged back.

"Thank you so much DJ. I couldn't have done everything without you and everyone else." I said as a tear ran down my face.

"You come back to us you hear? Don't make this old man whup your butt." DJ said jokingly. I could tell that he too was crying. DJ put the bracelet on my wrist. It was a red and blue string with a spell circle insignia on it that resembles my spells. I let go of him as I walked out the door. When I did Casey held out his hands. I looked up to see the sun just starting to rise.

"Are you ready for this? I can understand if you aren't." Casey said to me. Ashley grabbed his hand and he kept his held out to me. I then reached for it.

"I will be this city's hope." I said as I grabbed his hand.

Suddenly a bunch of sand started forming around us and deconstructing our bodies and then I noticed that we were running through the ground until we got to Wooster Street and emerged from the ground. Ashley and Casey erupted out of the ground fine, I on the other hand was thrown some feet away and I had to roll on my shoulder to avoid any injury. "What the hell was that?!" I said surprised at how fast we traveled.

Casey began laughing, "Hahaha. It's your first time I can understand. You see where I'm from I have a friend who was mage and his specialty was manipulating the earth to his will. He learned how to decompose his body into sand and travel wherever he needed to underground. He then taught me how to do it and it is a very effective form of transportation. The only problem is you have to have a feel of the ground to know where you're going. Me and him call it, Tunneling." He explained. I started brushing the dirt off of my clothes.

 **"** **Explosion, now"**

I heard this and saw a spell circle surround me. It was a purple one and then it exploded as I got sent flying off down the street about a block away from Casey and Ashley. I rolled on my side and when I looked up I saw my allies already fighting against my dark self. Casey was grabbed by the throat and thrown into the college building and Ashley was slammed onto the ground. I started running up to my dark self, "HEY! Let her go! You want to fight someone you can come fight me!" I said to him. Dark Wizard raised his face slowly as his eclipse eyes pierced right into me.

"I've been looking for you actually. Now you can watch as I make this girl number eight on the people killed already, and then you will be number nine. I think I'll start by breaking this arm by raising it up slowly up her back until I hear something snap. Something like this." He said as forced her arm on her back and slowly started lifting it up while keeping her head on the street. Ashley began screaming and then I heard something zip in the air as a deep red colored Chakram came flying out from the building and it caused my dark side to jump up in the air and freeing Ashley in the process. Casey then quickly zoomed to her side. Ashley was slowly adjusting her arm as Casey was helping her up. Dark Wizard was still above them and grabbed Casey by the hair and slammed him on his back onto the ground. He raised his fist to punch his face in but I ran towards him and lept. I grabbed my dark self by the shoulders and when I fell onto the ground I had taken him with me. We rolled until I was sitting on top of him and I raised my fist to hit him but he kneed me in the crotch and then brought his legs up to his chest and kicked me away from him. I was now standing on his right, Ashley in front, and Casey on the left.

"I see you had to go bring friends and some powerful ones at that too. I would've thought you would get rid of your friends after what Manuela did to you." He said as he looked at all of us with this cocky smile. All three of us came at him. Ashley lunged at his neck which he just grabbed her hand and twisted it sideways causing her to kneel in pain. Casey had his Chakram back in his hand as he went to go slice at his side but he took a step backwards and grabbed his wrist. He then slammed Casey's head into Ashley's causing them to fall backwards.

I jumped over them as I came in with a straight right punch but my dark self took his left hand in a sweeping motion and pushed it to the side. I reached out and grabbed his jacked with my left and pulled him in to where I cocked my right hand back and punched him across the face at least three times. I then grabbed another part of his jacket and spun us around a couple of times before I put my foot in between his causing him to fall on the ground. I then got on top of him and raised my fist but before I did I heard something from the belt.

 **"** **Spark, now"**

I looked at him with a smile on his face and suddenly a bright light enveloped the entire block and I was temporarily blind. But it wasn't just being blind that got me my body felt numb as if I was just electrocuted. In a few seconds I was able to see but this time I didn't see Dark Wizard on the ground. I turned around as the spell started working off and I saw him standing right in front of me. He did a right hook to me but I raised my right arm to block and I went to throw a punch at his chest but he grabbed it with his free hand and raised it until it was leveled with my arm that I was using to stop his first punch. He then wrapped his right arm around my shoulder and took a step until he was right in my face, "You can't fight me like this. I'm not like the other Phantoms, I'm more intelligent when it comes to fighting and also remember I was a part of you, I know exactly how to counter your attacks. So you better start doing something new otherwise you will start to not like the decisions of your actions. Like this for instance." He said. He took my left hand and raised it up in the air as he ducked under it and came up behind me and violently jerked my arm to my back.

I was screaming in pain as he kicked the back of my leg which caused me to stumble and then before I could stand back up he used his foot to shove me onto the ground. I fell on the ground while he was still holding my arm behind which caused my tendons to start ripping. I was screaming loud as I was wishing the pain to stop, "Allow me to teach you what happens when you make a bad decision in this fight." He said. I looked over to see him raise his other hand and was going to open palm my elbow but then I ignored the pain as I raised my right foot and kicked him off of me causing him to be surprised as he let go of my arm and I finally fell on the ground as a result of losing my balance. I started to bring my arm to the front of me as the pain was still there. I looked around to see Casey and Ashley still having a hard time seeing from the spell, "It's going to be a bit before they can fight. I used more mana to blind them than I did with you." He said with that same cheeky smile.

I watched him pull out a light purple spell ring that had circles all around it and an arrow going towards the middle. "How about you and I fight somewhere more suited for us?" He said. He then slid the ring on and I noticed that he had taken it out of his left pocket.

"That left pocket has to have my Driver On ring. If I can reach my hand inside that I should be able to pull it out." I said as I ran at him. I leaned my right arm back and came at him with a powerful punch but he just grabbed my fist and then twisted it sideways causing me to kneel. He then scanned his ring over the black hand belt buckle.

 **"** **Teleport, now."**

A bright light started forming around us and I heard Casey yell out my name. When I turned around to see him finally getting over the spell I was whisked away and then noticed that we were on top of the Jerome Library on the Bowling Green State University campus. Looking around I could see the entire city from here. Dark Wizard was still holding onto my arm, "I think this will be a lot better for us to fight now without anyone getting in the way." He said. He then raised his foot and kicked me under my jaw and then roundhouse kicked me causing me to be sent flying back a few feet. He then picked me up by my jacket which I went to kick him in his side but he caught my leg and then I countered with punching him right across the face. He dropped my leg in response and I swung my left arm to punch him again and then followed up with my right. I kept this up as I started pushing him towards the end of the building. We were about ten feet when I jumped over him and wrapped my right arm around his neck and forced him to lean backwards as I drove my left fist into his back and then pinned him on the ground. "How's that for something new?" I said gritting my teeth.

He smiled before rolling to the left and breaking free from my grasp, "Not bad me. But I think I'm going to step up my game a bit more." He said. He came at me with a rising high kick which I swept my body under and then when he put his foot down the belt made another noise.

 **"** **Teleport, now."**

He then vanished from in front of me and then reappeared next to me as he punched me in my jaw and then vanished again. He reappeared to my other side as he grabbed my hair and pulled me towards him as he kicked me in my nose and then vanished again. The next area where he showed up was in front of me as he grabbed my jacked and pulled me into a headbutt and then vanished once more as he popped up behind me and used his feet to sweep at my legs causing me to fall backwards. Then he stood over me as he brought his fist into my chest while I was still in mid-air slamming me into the ground. Once I was put on the ground the pain that I should've received from his attacks all started coursing through my body at once and then he stomped his foot at the base of my throat.

 **"** **Connect, now."**

A red spell circle appeared as he put his hand through it and pulled out my swordgun. He put the weapon into gun mode and put the chamber right at my face, "Don't you see how powerless you are? I hold onto the rings that were once yours and you can't even reach for them. You may be able to fight but all I've been doing is holding back showing how weak and pathetic you really are. Right now you're just a human fighting a hopeless battle. You can't save anyone, not Maria, not Manuela, not the eight people I've killed, and not even yourself. How are you to protect others when you can't protect yourself?" He said to me. I looked at him realizing he made a point.

"You know what maybe your right for once. How can I protect the people I care about if I can't even protect myself? Thanks for the lesson." I said. My dark self just smiled at me as he put a finger on the trigger and I immediately took my right hand and grabbed the chamber and quickly moved the gun above me as a bullet fired off the roof. My hand was starting to bleed because of the tip of the sword was under the chamber and I tugged the weapon at me as I lifted my left elbow and elbowed him in the face. I then let go of the weapon as he was stumbling back and reached inside his pocket hoping to grab my Driver On ring. He recovered from my attack and grabbed my throat and started putting pressure on it. I then clasped my fists together and slammed it on his wrist as hard as I could breaking free from his grasp and lifted my left leg as I kicked him in the stomach to get some distance from me. I looked at the ring to see that it wasn't my Driver On ring, but my Blizzard Ring.

"This is not what I wanted. He must have multiple rings buried in that pocket." I thought as I was disappointed.

"That was a very interesting move." He said to me. I watched as he ran up to me and jumped a bit into the air as he kicked me in my chest causing me to fall and slide backwards until I was just an inch from the side of the building. I slid the Blizzard Ring on my finger to keep it from losing it. I quickly jumped up from the ground to see Dark Wizard right in front of me lifting his leg up to kick me in my face and I quickly dropped my body under his foot and when I lifted my body up I uppercut him with my right palm. He took a step back and I took one huge step as I was now in his face and throat punched him with my right hand. I then followed up with an open palm punch with my left hand and then did the same with my right hand. I bent my body down low and jumped into the air spinning sideways as I brought my right foot down on the back of his head sending him face first on the ground. I went to go grab him by his hair but he rolled to his side and picked up the swordgun that was lying on the ground. He had blood coming out of his nose.

"IMPRESSIVE! This is what I've been wanting to see! To see if you have what it takes to actually get back up and fight even if the odds are against you!" He said in a really happy tone.

I looked at him confused, "It's over for you. I'm showing you that I can fight to meet up with you and I can do it on my own. This entire time we have been fighting I've been reading your movements and looking for openings to exploit so that I can land in some solid strikes." I said to him with confidence. He started to laugh as if I had said the most funniest thing he's ever heard. When he stopped he scanned his ring again.

 **"** **Connect, now."**

"You think you have some sort of advantage? Let's not forget that less than twenty four hours ago you were a broken human being with no hopes for recovering. Let's just see how broken you are." He said as he walked over to the side of the building. He then released his hand and a spell circle appeared as he reached inside and pulled out someone that I care about really much. He then held the swordgun up to her back as she looked at me and was terrified of what was going on.

"How the hell did I get here?! What's going on?!" Rachel said. She saw me running towards her and then she turned around to see my dark self cock a smile and placed the gun at her right chest area and pulled the trigger. The bullet went right through her and when her body fell backwards, it fell off the giant building and started heading down to the ground. I was embroiled with rage and sadness and I ran straight up at my dark side who then fired a bullet at me and it went right through my lower left side and then I stopped to hold my hand over the wound and he walked over to me and grabbed my throat.

"I'm done with our fight. You can go die along with that woman." He said and then I watched as the gun turned back into sword mode and he rammed it through my left shoulder, then hoisted me up in the air with the sword causing me to fall closer to the handle, and then flung me off the same side of the building as Rachel. Once I started falling my mind replayed back to when Rachel found me at the park the other day and her words she had said to me kept replaying in my mind.

"I was so close….Rachel…" I said as tears ran down my face and then I heard water being shot out like a geyser and in just a few seconds my body splashed into a giant ball of water. I looked around as the water was slowly landing on the ground and in front of me was Rachel's body. I started swimming against the pain in my body as I grabbed her body and brought it close to me. The water hit the ground and then dispersed across the walkway to the Jerome Library.

"Oh no." I heard Casey say as he ran up to me. He was pulling me away from Rachel's corpse but I was fighting to stay by her side.

"NO! DON'T PULL ME AWAY FROM HER! RACHEL!" I said fighting against the pain in my wounds as I broke free from Casey's grip and began crawling to Rachel's body. I started patting her face, "Come on, don't die on me! Please wake up! Rachel wake up! COME ON DAMN IT WAKE UP!" I said as my vision started to get blurry. I watched as the water around us started to move inside her wounds and I watched as it began to heal her wounds. When the water was done with her body, it came over to me and I went through the same process. The pain of my body being re-stitched together hurt and I screamed through my teeth in pain. My vision started coming back to me but my body was a bit heavy from the stress it went through. I watched as Casey put his fingers on the base of Rachel's neck and was waiting for a pulse.

"She is just barely alive. I need to get her to a hospital." Casey said as he wrapped her arms around his neck and teleported and then a few seconds later came back. "Okay she'll be fine but we need to finish this fight before anyone else gets hurt." Casey suggested. I tried to stand up but felt like the entire world was spinning rapidly. I had to fall back down in order to have it all stopped.

"You need to rest a bit. You were wounded and went flying from the top of a building. Your body needs to rest before it can get back up again." Ashley said as she kept me on the ground. I was now getting upset as I felt helpless and then I saw a light behind Ashley.

"WATCH OUT!" I yelled as I tried to sit up. Dark Wizard had teleported behind her and raised his blade pointed at the back of her head. He began to thrust down and then I saw Casey teleported and put himself between him and Ashley as the sword went right through his left hand. While the blade was through his hand I watched him clench his hand into a fist as he grabbed the blade. The look on Casey's face was extremely calm as if he never took that blow to begin with.

"Normally people scream in pain when something pierces right through their hand. Yet you keep your composure and then add salt to the wound by holding onto my blade. What's your story young man?" Dark Wizard asked Casey. I watched as his book bag slowly started unzipping with no noise being made whatsoever from the right side and I saw a dark blue Chakram appear.

"Anyone who tries to kill my family will not get any mercy from me. That's my fiancé with my daughter." He said in a deep tone. I looked at Ashley who had an expressionless look on her face. I then looked at her stomach and saw nothing to show that she was pregnant.

"How does he know what child they are going to have?" I thought surprised.

My attention was then immediately switched back to Casey as the dark blue chakram shot out along with a dark red and a dark grey colored one. The three circular blades began attacking in different directions at Dark Wizard who ended up letting go of the swordgun that was still in Casey's hand and began dodging each blade. The blue one went to strike at him and missed, but when it hit the ground the surrounding area started forming ice. The red one went to slice at Dark Wizard while he was still in mid air but he was able to roll over just barely missing the blade and it hit the pavement as it started melting away as if lava was splattered on the ground. Casey ripped the sword out of his hand and tossed it up in the air sideways a few feet away from his body. He then spun sideways in the air and kicked the hilt sending it straight at Dark Wizard who had just landed on the ground. The sword went zooming really fast after being kicked and when my dark self looked up he had to bend backwards just to miss being hit squared in the face. Casey then teleported and appeared in the air with his dark grey Chakram in his hand. The blade split into two and I watched as metal wires started shooting out of of the blades in random areas. The wires shot out to form a weird webbing around Dark Wizard and Casey threw one of his blades that barely knicked my dark side in the shoulder. Casey then pulled back on the blade in his hand and he was sent propelling forward at Dark Wizard with his left fist raised. He punched Dark Wizard in the chest so hard it caused him to fall backwards and on his back. I watched as my dark self coughed up a bit of blood from his mouth.

"What the hell is going on? Just who is your fiancé Ashley?" I asked her surprised at what had just occurred. The wires that kept Dark Wizard from moving around retracted back into the blades and then they formed back into one. Casey began to walk over to the in pain foe and reached out to grab the pocket that held my rings. Before he did Dark Wizard grabbed his wrist.

"I love the little beating you got going on there. Kind of makes me want to step up my game to the next level." He said. In just a flash we watched Dark Wizard move very quickly off the ground and behind Casey with his arm stretched out. Casey tried to turn his body but my dark self put his hands on his shoulder and applied force on his pressure point causing Casey to not move for a bit. "You know I've noticed that this right arm of yours has some destructive force behind it. Would be a real shame if it were to break." He said staring at the right arm that he had stretched out.

I heard one of Casey's Chakrams begin to move from where they were positioned and as soon as they moved up I heard Casey scream in pain. We looked over to Casey's elbow broken and bone sticking out from the other end. Blood was spitting everywhere and then Dark Wizard released his grip on Casey as he fell on his knees and the Chakram's that were levitating had fallen. Casey was screaming through his teeth and the sight of his right arm was horrid to look at. Ashley stood up in front of me and ran towards the Chakram that was the cause for the ice to appear on the road. She looked like she was pissed as she ran towards the blade and pulled it out. I watched as the ice thawed and turned into a giant mass of water as it started to wrap and stick around her body. I looked back at Casey and Dark Wizard who had not noticed Ashley.

"You might be pretty powerful but I'm pretty sure you need limbs to fight with. I guess you are out of this fight Casey." He said as he scanned another ring.

 **"** **Big, now."**

A spell circle appeared in front of Casey as Dark Wizard swung his right foot through it causing his feet to get extremely big and made impact with Casey's chest. Casey was immediately sent flying all the way into the building that was next to the library. A giant noise was made that echoed through the school grounds and Dark Wizard dispelled his attack as his right foot returned to normal. He then saw Ashley standing with the dark blue Chakram in hand.

"The next one to get broken is the Water Bitch over here. I can tell that you are strong, but not as strong as your broken man over there." He said to her. I tried to move but was still unable to stand fully up. I was pissed at how powerless I was and then I noticed a bottle of water that was lying on the ground.

"Ashley must've left this behind for me." I thought as I grabbed the bottle and started drinking the contents. I could feel myself getting my strength back a lot quicker and I stood up to go help Ashley in the fight. As soon as I stood up I heard a familiar spell.

 **"** **Driver on, now"**

I looked over to see Dark Wizard getting ready to transform. "Allow me to step up my game. Transform." He said as he pulled out from his left pocket my Flame Style Ring. He hit the levers and a different voice was made from the belt that was a bit eerie sounding.

 **"** **Sha Ba Doobi Touch to Transform. Inferno, now. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"**

A purple spell circle appeared and began moving across Dark Wizard's body showing off a new form I've never seen before. It was my normal black attire but where there would be red gemstones was replaced with a dark purple. After his transformation Dark Wizard copied my stance, "I will bring about your despair." He said.

"Oh why the hell does he get a catchphrase?!" I thought as he assumed a fighting stance. Just by looking at his transformed state I could tell this fight just got a lot more difficult. I stood back up and started running to Ashley's side to help in the fight but she casted a bunch of ice to come towards me and form a wall that prevented me from getting involved.

"I'll get your ring back, but until then you need to stay where you are at." She instructed. I had another thought of going to check up on Casey but I felt like staying where I was at to keep an eye on Ashley.

Ashley formed a wall of ice behind her and when she turned around I saw her eyes turn into a deep black color as well as the Chakram she was holding began emanating a glow. Ashley jumped and planted her feet on the wall of ice as she used it to push off against and in just a second was in front of Dark Wizard's face. She swung the Chakram trying to sever his head but he dodged and then lifted his leg and kicked her in the stomach sending her flying up in the air. Once she started falling I watched as a sheet of ice formed behind her and then quickly thawed into raindrops. The raindrops started to multiply quickly and then fell around and on Dark Wizard. The raindrops upon hitting the ground, formed into pillars of ice and attached themselves around the different limbs of Dark Wizard and as Ashley came falling down she lifted the Chakram and sliced at his chest plate. Once she hit the ground she raised the blade in her hand and began slashing left and right, up and down as fast as she could on his chest plate causing a bunch of sparks to fly off from his armor. She then stopped and reeled back her arm with the blade and punched him in the face causing him to break from the restraints and flying backwards.

The ice that was used as a restraint started to form around Ashley's body. She had ice spiraling from her chest down her entire left and right legs, and then had ice forming into sleeves from her shoulders up to her palms. The sleeves were attached to a sheet of ice that wrapped around her neck like a scarf. "It's been a long time since I fought in this form." Ashley said with a deeper voice. Dark Wizard then stood back up from the attack.

"Oh so you guys can transform too? Well it would make for an exciting battle, I almost thought I was being a bit unfair being the only one who can transform." He said with a cocky expression. I watched as he took out a ring and slid it on his finger. He then flipped the levers and scanned a ring I never heard of before.

 **"** **Amazing! Dark Strike!"**

I watched as purple mana shot out of the ring and in just a flash a bunch of black swords appeared surrounding Dark Wizard. "Let's just see how much you can fight when you have an endless amount of swords flying in every direction at you." He said as he sent them soaring through the air towards Ashley. Ashley stomped her foot on the ground at the last second as a wall of ice formed around her as the swords got stuck in the ice. I watched as my dark self grabbed a sword and stabbed it into the ground. The sword then vanished into the ground and then emerged from the ground where Ashley was standing.

"Oh no Ashley!" I yelled.

I watched as the wall of ice shattered into chunks of ice and fell on the ground. When the wall fell onto the ground there was a giant black sword sticking out of the side of Ashley's neck from her left leg. I wanted to look away from the corpse that was there and I watched as the body fell onto the ground. Dark Wizard shifted his view to me. The ice that was surrounding me fell to the ground and rapidly thawed.

"Well that didn't take long. Of course I now have you to fight. I hope you are ready to scream more than you did when Phoenix and Medusa tortured you." He said to me with a wicked smile on his face. I got myself ready to fight but I knew it was going to be hard for me. Dark Wizard was creeping up to me and I began running towards him as I thought up a plan to get my Driver On ring back from him. When I did he had slid on a new spell ring and flipped the levers and launched the spell immediately as I punched the circle.

 **"** **Barrier, now."**

Right after the circle appeared I was having a hard time pushing it back and when I spun around the circle to punch him in the side, the circle moved over to that spot and blocked my attack. "Now I know how my enemies feel when I use this against them." I thought to myself. Dark Wizard then grabbed my throat and single handedly threw me across the battlefield until I rolled over next to Ashley's corpse. The sword was gone and a hole was made at her throat, "I swear to you that I'm going to win this fight to avenge you." I said to the body. I then noticed that there wasn't any blood coming from her wounds.

"I think it's time I ended your suffering." Dark Wizard said as I averted my attention back to him. He put on a new spell ring and scanned it over the belt.

 **"** **Very nice! Kick Strike! Now."**

I watched as he jumped in the air and a black flame formed around his right foot. A black spell circle was also wrapped around his foot and he came striking down towards me. I was going to dodge but once he was halfway to me I watched as a stream of water surrounded him in a sphere like shape. Then the whole thing froze over and then a small drop of water fell onto the pavement and quickly started becoming bigger and then the water froze and quickly shattered to reveal Ashley. She had shook her head and body as the rest of the ice fell to the ground. The giant ice sphere was still hanging in the air.

"I think you are going to want this Travis." Ashley said as she threw a ring at me. I caught it and saw it was my Driver On ring. "Casey dear! You can smash this thing now." She said as Casey teleported on top of the ice sphere. He had raised his left hand that was glowing a dim bright light and then punched it into the sphere as everything began to shatter. Dark Wizard fell hard onto the ground and was just slowly getting up.

"Wait! I saw your body impaled by his weapon how did you survi—" I said as I looked back at Ashley's corpse to see the corpse was still there but the ice chunks had disappeared. I looked back at Ashley to notice that she had reverted back to looking like her normal self and Casey was holding the dark blue Chakram.

"Ashley take a break, you know how much _she_ will absorb your energy when you transform." Casey said to her. Ashley had looked like she was about to collapse and sat on the ground. Casey then walked up next to me as Dark Wizard began to get ready for his next assault.

"In this Chakram lies a demon that I couldn't kill. That demon used to be an entity Ashley would transform into in order to fight. So when she wields this Chakram she has the ability to transform into the being again. As for her corpse, well Ashley, back when she transformed into this demon called Frozen, was very cunning and sneaking when it came into combat and over time learned how to put all of her body into anything water or ice as a way to lower her opponent's guard and then strike without them knowing. It's very effective as you can see."

I just couldn't believe everything that was going on, "These guys are crazy." I thought as I looked back at Dark Wizard who began yelling at the top of his lungs. Casey then had the dark blue blade go into the side of his bag.

"It would seem that this fight is coming to an end. That attack we did left a nice enough crack at his chest plate." Casey said as I looked to see cracks all over his armor. There was a bright light coming out of it, "We have done everything we can at this point to break that armor. I'm almost out of energy to keep fighting and my arm is slowly starting to heal." When he said that I saw that his arm was starting to fix itself and was almost done with being fully healed. It was disgusting to watch the bones fix themselves and go back inside his body. "Here is what we are going to do. I am going to create an opening for you to get in close and you need to rip the gauntlet that is in his chest. Rip it out and use it, because right now you can't beat him in any of your forms and the gauntlet inside him is the only way to beat him." He instructed.

"Okay I got it! How are we going to keep him down? He's going to fight to the death with us." I asked seeking some advice. Ashley then walked up to us.

"That's when I encase him in ice. If we can immobilize his ability to move then we will have a chance. I'm going to fight to create that opening and here is how we are going to do it. Casey I need you to teleport and land a barrage of attacks while Travis and I come in to do a follow up attack. Your ability to fight and confuse your opponents is something you excel at. I need you to get his back turned to me and then when his back is turned I need you to throw a Chakram at that fire hydrant at the point I'll manipulate the water and freeze his body. When that happens Travis you need to get the gauntlet in his chest." Ashley said. Casey agreed with the plan and we all stood in a line together as Dark Wizard finally stopped raging.

"I'M DONE PLAYING GAMES WITH YOU! I'VE ONLY BEEN PLAYING AROUND BUT NOW I'LL START KILLING EVERYONE AND EVERTHING!" He roared. He reached for a ring and I commanded Casey to move. Casey nodded as the left side of his book bag unzipped and shot out another yellow Chakram and he pulled out his dark red from his holder. He stretched out his arms and quickly teleported before Dark Wizard could flip the levers. He began slicing at every gem armor on his causing a lot of pain on him and anytime Dark Wizard tried to stop Casey from attacking, he would teleport which forced our enemy to move his body around. Ashley began running towards the fire hydrant and had a bit of water on her arms that started swirling around her wrist. I saw Ghouls appear into the battlefield and had there spears coming down and I quickly scanned my ring I had.

 **"** **Special! Blizzard! The Best!"**

I quickly bent to my knees and slammed my hand on the ground as ice started forming towards Ashley and when it did I made the ice form a sphere around her that stopped the attacks. I went to dispel my attack but I watched as spikes shot out from the sphere piercing through the monsters causing them to explode and when we looked over to see how Casey was doing we saw Dark Wizard had stopped Casey in his track and had him in a headlock. Casey was fighting to break free and that's when I saw Ashley get extremely pissed. She started walking towards him and when she did the ice that I casted began following her and she stopped walking as she stood sideways and lifted her left hand as the ice began rapidly thawing and made six streams of water that started flowing around Ashley and begin forming a ball the size of a tennis ball at the tip of her fingers.

"Let's keep in mind that if you shoot that at me you will kill your beloved fiancé. Hope you know that right?" Dark Wizard said. Ashley mouthed words towards Casey as he reached out his hand towards her. I watched as she fired the big ball of water and I watched it hit Casey's hand and when it did, his entire body became frozen and then shattered like glass. I looked back at Ashley and when I did her body was gone. I looked back at Casey to see his body was still shards of frozen glass as the pieces began to rain down on Dark Wizard who was getting extremely owned from not being able to counter Casey's attack and then I watched as the attacks stopped and I took this moment to run at him. I then noticed him trying to fight back against the pain to fight me off.

"I don't think so asshole!" I said as I scanned my Blizzard Ring. I casted the spell circle in front of me and it stayed a few feet ahead of me as I was running towards him. I then punched my circle and sent it flying towards Dark Wizard which it went right through him and when it did, his entire body was completely immobilized. I then ran up to him and used my same hand I punched my spell circle and hit right in his chest and pulled out the device. The device had a colored dial on top of a black hand with the fingers down besides the thumb, and a silver plate connected to a ring with a white dragon rising out of it. I looked at the silver slab as it said, "Drago Timer." "Well that's a lot better than Machine Winger which is still a terrible name for a bike." I said. I looked at Dark Wizard while sliding the ring to get me fully into this fight.

" **Driver on, please."**

My belt appeared and the red outline on my ring went back to gold. I watched as the frozen shards floated in the air and formed next to me to see Ashley and Casey's bodies to re-appear. "I had a feeling you guys were going to use that same attack again." I said to them. I looked at Casey, "Ready to finish this?" I asked him.

He looked back with a cocky expression, "Yes I am. I think I might even do that what you guys call? A Rider Kick?" He said. I then proceeded to flip the levers on my belt. Then I grabbed my Flame Dragon Ring and scanned it.

" **Flame DRAGON! Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn!"**

A red fiery dragon erupted from my belt as it circled around me and hit my back revealing my neon red dragon form and then I attached the Drago Timer on my right hand. I watched as Dark Wizard was trying to break free and then Ghouls started to swarm him. I started to notice that Dark Wizard was slowly being able to move again. "Ashley and Casey can you fight off the Ghouls?" I asked. Ashley ended up running into battle and began fighting off the horde as Casey stayed near me and threw his Chakrams to provide back up. I then had Dragon begin talking to me.

"With this you can use all of my power at will. Let's show your dark self the power when we are at our strongest! Turn the dial and hit the thumb as the pointer hits the colored squares." Dragon said. I turned the dial and pressed the black thumb ready to end this fight.

" **Set Up….Start!"**

The noise was a bit irritating to hear and I pushed the button as it hit the blue square.

" **WATER DRAGON!"**

I saw a Ghoul throw a spear that would hit Ashley in the back of her head and then a water spell circle appeared as my neon blue form jumped out and landed on top of the spear dropping it to the ground. "Thanks!" Ashley said. I then was waiting for it to go to the green and noticed that more and more Ghouls were starting to show up.

"Casey, we need to give Ashley more cover otherwise she is going to get overwhelmed and right now its taking some time for me to get through the dial." I said to him. Casey then tapped a button that was on his left strap of his bookbag.

"Manual override. Give me every Chakram." Casey said. Then his book bag began unzipping as three yellow Chakrams shot out of the left side and two shot out of the right and the bright red Chakram that created lava all formed in a giant circle behind him. "Protect Ashley and the colored Wizards." He said as his Chakrams turned sideways with their blades facing the Ghouls and zoomed towards them I then hit the thumb to get another clone of me in that fight.

" **Hurricane Dragon!"**

A green spell circle appeared over the battlefield and out came my neon green form with his own swordgun as well as another in his hands. My green form gave my blue one a weapon as they started fighting the horde. I then noticed that my dial was now over the yellow bar.

" **Land Dragon!"**

A yellow spell circle appeared on the ground and out came my neon yellow form. The Ghouls were starting to die down now and I had an idea. "Casey get Ashley back here. I have an idea but I need everyone and everything out of the battlefield." I said to him. Casey heard and summoned his blades back and had Ashley return. My copies were standing in front of us and I punched the thumb for the final time.

" **Dragon Formation!"**

I watched as all of my copies got parts of a Dragon's body part to appear on them and they all took out their special attack rings and scanned it over their sword.

" **Blizzard Slash Strike!"**

 **"** **Gravity Slash Strike!"**

 **"** **Thunder Slash Strike!"**

The swords began emanating a huge glow and then I watched them send their attacks to the giant horde. The blizzard one froze every Ghoul, as the gravity sent them up off the ground by about five feet, and the thunder formed a dragon as it ran around killing every Ghoul. Then the three replica's disappeared and I could now tell my mana was rapidly draining. "For some reason this Drago Timer is sucking up my mana quicker than any of my forms. I have to finish this now." I thought. I took off the gauntlet and handed it to Ashley to hold as I grabbed one of my spells. "Are you ready to do this Casey?" I asked him.

"Yea I'll lead and you follow up behind. Ashley keep our enemy still." He said. Ashley lifted one hand and the ice that was thawing on Dark Wizard hardened. Casey then put back all of his blades into his bag except the dark red one. That one sliced Casey's right leg and I watched as his red blood went black and something like black fire started to form around his entire feet. I then scanned my attack ring.

" **Very Nice! Kick Strike! The Best!"**

"The finale." I said as flames started erupting around my left foot and I ran at Dark Wizard. Casey jumped up in the air and then came zooming down. He kicked right through Dark Wizard and then before hitting the ground, teleported and came kicking him from behind. Dark Wizard broke from the ice that was holding him as he rolled on the ground and when he got up he saw me coming down from the sky with my rider kick. He grabbed my foot as he tried to hold me in the air.

"I'M NOT GOING TO DIE HERE! I'LL KILL YOU! EVIL WILL ALWAYS PREVAIL!" He said holding his ground. I saw an arrow made of ice zoom past me and hit Dark Wizard at his transformation belt. I watched as my dark self let go of my foot screaming in pain and my attack hit him. I watched as he got pushed hard into the ground. I caused a giant crater to form and the last thing anyone saw was Dark Wizard screaming.

Once my attack was done I reverted back to my human self and looked over to see Ashley holding a bow made of water. The water bow then splashed onto the ground and Ashley ran up to me. I turned to see Casey standing next to me as we watched Dark Wizard revert back to his human form. Blood pouring out of his mouth non-stop. "How the hell did I lose to you? I was stronger in every aspect. I was the perfect fighter and proven it so many times yet I still lost." He said weakly.

"I had friends. You only had Ghouls. You only had yourself. Now go back where you belong, inside me." I said as I watched him give a simple smile and then turned into dust. Amongst the dust was a couple of rings. I bent down and picked them up. One was purple with some flames on it and the other was something that looked like a purple monster, "This one must be a new Plamonster. But what is this other ring?" I wondered. I then started to feel my knees get extremely weak as well as the rest of my body. Ashley quickly grabbed me.

"Whoa there now. We need to get you back home. Casey dear do you have enough power to get us back?" She asked him. Casey looked exhausted as well.

"I can but I'm not going to like it. Everyone grab on to me, don't expect me to be awake at the end of it." He said. I reached and grabbed his shoulder as Ashley grabbed his hand. Then we began that thing Casey called tunneling and in just seconds we erupted out of the ground to see ourselves in front of DJ's place. Shawn and Robin came running out of the house as they tried to help us inside and once we all got inside, we found the nearest thing to lay in and quickly fell asleep.

(Stranger's Viewpoint)

I had just flown on top of a roof in the downtown district of Bowling Green Ohio. I was a bit exhausted from my fight with a Phantom that led me on a giant chase, "Oh my God if I have to hunt down my food one more time I swear to—Oh what happened here?" I said aloud as I saw traffic backed up all the way to the campus. Police cars began zooming from every direction as well as fire trucks and rescue vehicles. I got myself down from the building and quickly got up to the campus as I saw a lot of destruction. "Wow Travis you really have gone and gotten yourself in quite a fight. Well I guess I shouldn't have to complain about my fight because you look like you just fought for your life here. Well Chimera, let's go pay an old friend a visit." I said as I started to walk away from what was a huge battlefield. I looked at my yellow and black Lion ring while holding my giant hiking bag on my back.

* * *

Next Time On Masked Rider Wizard:

"Where's Manuela?"

There is a story of a werewolf that haunts this lake out on the northern parts of Ohio."

"The name is Masked Rider Beast!"

"It's lunchtime!"

"How does he know who I am?"

"Rachel is dying and I don't know how to save her."

"We have a situation that requires you to help us Wizard. If you want to save the ones your care about"

"A Phantom that goes rogue on it's own kind?"

"Why is Travis fighting with Medusa and Phoenix?"

"After what happened with Amber I don't think I could ever love again."

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"How can I save someone's life when I can't even save myself?"

"DJ...You've always been a good friend..."

"I will kill you Travis, slowly but surely I'll force you into a despair where you will be begging to die."

"Hyper!"

"Travis is my best friend, and I'll never let someone like you break him anymore!"

"Travis...I love you."

"This Phantom has the power to extract the hope from people."

"EXCITING!"

"I've lost my powers..."

"If I can't be the hope for people I'm as good as dead..."

"Mom...Dad...I'll be joining you soon..."

"I've fought and lived my ENTIRE LIFE to make up for the wrong I did to him!"

"Karina want's to die with the person who mattered in her life."

"Leave Karina Alone!"

"You may not see yourself as a superhero, but know that in my eyes you were always one."

"Even without powers I can still stop you."

"INFINITY, PLEASE!"

The Masked Rider Wizard Book 2: The Primordial Mage. Chapter 1 Coming Soon.


End file.
